Maternal and Newborn Health Launch Initiative

November 4, 2010

Remarks of the  Special Envoy Hussain

Thank you for the warm welcome.
 
It’s a pleasure to share the stage with so many distinguished colleagues, including the OIC and IDB representatives who have traveled great distances to be here today.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to meet such a great number of devoted Malians, including those who have been working in health over several years of services in this important field.   

We’re here today to co-launch the US-OIC joint partnership on maternal and newborn health – an important initiative designed to help advance interventions and policies to improve maternal and newborn health in many OIC member countries.  As I was reminded this morning (or whenever SE Hussain meets with the MOH), 615,000 women in the world die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.  Many, if not most, of these deaths could have been readily prevented by using proven measures like the ones we are advocating today.  Fifty percent of these deaths occur in OIC countries.

Unfortunately, statistics such as those are not new.  What is new is the unprecedented recognition on the part of nations, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations, of the importance of public health – and with it maternal and child health - to security, economic prosperity, and regional political stability.  What is also new is the increased resources commitment – and by resources I mean financial resources as well as human resources – that these same organizations are devoting to global health causes. 

During his groundbreaking speech in Cairo on June 4, 2009, President Obama announced that the OIC and the U.S. will work together to advance our shared goal of increased action on women’s and children’s health, in support of Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5.  By raising the health of mothers and infants to the top of our development agenda in the global arena, both bilaterally and multilaterally, we have staked our common interests on this vital issue.

The partnership we are launching today amongst the U.S., the OIC, the IDB, and the Government of Mali reflects our broader efforts to work to with the OIC on reducing maternal and newborn mortality.  The health of mothers and newborns are intimately linked, and we know that newborn deaths account for forty percent of child deaths.

During the MDG Summit in New York City, the U.S. welcomed the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy on Women and Children’s Health, which highlights the importance of investing in women and girls to meet the health-related MDGs.  We also supported the G8 Muskoka Initiative and launched a number of other initiatives such as the new 5-year collaboration between the U.S., the UK, Australia, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate country-led progress on reproductive, maternal, and newborn health.  This joint action will contribute to the goal of increasing access to family planning by 2015 for 100 million women who now lack it. In addition, we recently announced a 3-year, $4 billion pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which will continue to produce improved health outcomes for women and children by addressing HIV and malaria, as well as by strengthening health systems.

Additionally, the President announced his Global Health Initiative in 2009 which is a $63 billion interagency effort to achieve significant health improvements and create an effective, efficient and country-led platform for the sustainable delivery of essential health care and public health programs.  Mali was selected as a GHI-Plus country.  This underscores the U.S. commitment to a comprehensive global health strategy that recognizes the importance of health of women and girls.  This Initiative builds on the global health successes of the last decade and draws on America’s long tradition of development through innovation.  It also elevates maternal and child health by supporting partner countries in saving and improving lives of more people in a sustainable way.  Through the GHI, the U.S. will provide integrated and essential health services for women and their children, including not only skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the post-partum period, but also family planning, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, and essential child health interventions. 

Our engagement with the OIC and its member countries has already been extensive.  In May, I traveled with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelieus, to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, where we convened an unprecedented meeting with health ministers from OIC countries, in cooperation with the OIC Secretariat.  Together we discussed maternal and child health, as well as polio, and progress on the heath-related MDGs.

In addition to financial resources, we recognize the strong need for technical, scientific and logistical expertise in combating the problems that lead to maternal and child illness and death.  A range of U.S. agencies work closely with OIC counterparts and scientists to address critical challenges.   NIH is one.  I was delighted to learn, for example, of the long-term scientific collaboration between NIH scientists and Malian counterparts right here at the Malaria Research and Training Center.  The two-way exchange of scientists, the focus on training of the next generation, and the top notch research conducted there has contributed new knowledge on how malaria spreads and how resistance to drugs can form.  It is a model of international research cooperation.  In addition, through the USAID and CDC, we provide technical and logistical support to help governments and local partners distribute vaccines, for example, effectively and efficiently.  Through our disease-specific and health system strengthening funding, we continue to play a significant role in reducing maternal and child mortality. 

For the Obama Administration, addressing and improving the health of women and children is a key foreign policy objective.  We will continue to work with our partners, like the OIC and the IDB, to provide strong public support and diplomatic leadership to this initiative.  It is also another demonstration of the common goals and concerns that the United States has with Muslim majority countries throughout the world.

Today presents a unique moment for the world to join together in a renewed effort to reduce maternal and child mortality.  Our work together in Mali will point the way to addressing neglected issues of preventable maternal and neonatal mortality in other OIC member nations, as well as around the world.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share some thoughts with you.  I look forward to our discussion.