UNIFEM Report Calls For Increased Accountability To Improve Maternal Health, Curb Discrimination Worldwide

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 23 Sep 2008 - 7:00 PST

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A report released Thursday by the U.N. Development Fund for Women said that increased measures to ensure government accountability are necessary in order to meet the existing commitments to end widespread discrimination against women, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The biennial report, titled "Progress of the World's Women 2008/2009," points to five areas that need "strengthened accountability to women," including access to public services such as health care.

According to the report summary, pregnancy-related deaths in some parts of the world continue to be high even with the availability of well-known, low-cost care to prevent maternal mortality. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the state of maternal health care worldwide "dismal," adding, "To fix the problem ... all we need is to ensure that developing countries have what developed states provide as a minimum: prenatal health care and skilled attendants to help mothers survive the ordeal of labor."

The other four areas of focus in the report are politics and governance, economic opportunities, justice and the distribution of international assistance for development and security. It also aims to provide a "framework understanding accountability from a gender perspective." Ines Alberdi, executive director of UNIFEM, said that women "must be represented in much larger numbers in the decision making process" in order to "overcome the accountability crisis." The global average of women in parliamentary positions has risen 18.4% since 1998, but at that rate, the 40% to 60% "parity zone" goal will not be reached until 2045, the AP/Globe reports.

The report's release comes a week before the ministerial meeting of the U.N. General Assembly that will include a special meeting about the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which include improving maternal health, eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education and promoting gender equality by 2015 (Lederer, AP/Boston Globe, 9/18).

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