20th anniversary of the Safe Motherhood movement.

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The United Nations Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, was the venue for a technical briefing held on 22 May 2007, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Safe Motherhood Initiative. The meeting was organised by the WHO Dept of Making Pregnancy Safer and was attended by many of those present in Geneva for the World Health Assembly. Nester Moyo represented ICM.

The objective of the briefing was to increase commitments from donor governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to help tackle maternal and newborn mortality in Africa and Asia in particular.

The meeting of representatives from FIGO, Family Care International, ICM and governments of Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Ireland, Laos, Malawi, the Netherlands and the UK was chaired by the new Assistant Director General of the Family and Community Health Cluster, Mrs Daisy Mafubelu.

Sally Keeble, Member of Parliament, UK, highlighted the fact that even though the UK is quite well off health wise, there are still disadvantaged sections of the population. Care needs to be extended to increase access for these families.

Chantal Gillard, Member of Parliament, the Netherlands, stressed the need for more commitment to care for women and newborns in the low-resource countries--'Think beyond the skin colour!'.

Jill Sheffield, President, Family Care International briefed the audience about the upcoming conference in London, 'Women Deliver'. Ministers of finance are invited to this conference to sensitise them to the need for equitable distribution of resources in order to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality.

Dorothy Shaw, President, FIGO, discussed the role of FIGO in Safe Motherhood as a critical partner. She...