Strengthening health and rights for women is the key to their empowerment. Good health, nutrition and nurturing care in early childhood can reap lifelong benefits for individuals and communities, including resilience against future health shocks. Investing in maternal, newborn and child health is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. Why ending preventable deaths mattersĮvery person should have the right to access the essential services needed to save their life. With access to quality health services, including midwifery care, a realisation of rights and gender equality, better nutrition, water and sanitation, lives would be saved. Huge inequities in the coverage and quality of health services needed to end preventable deaths remain. The COVID-19 pandemic has made existing health challenges worse. Most of these deaths occur in the world’s poorest countries and disproportionately impact the most marginalised populations. The scale of the challengeĪlmost 5.5 million pregnant women, newborn babies and children under five die each year. This Approach Paper sets out how the UK will deliver on this important ambition to 2024 and our strategic direction to 2030. The UK Government is committed to ending the preventable deaths (EPD) of mothers, newborn babies and children by 2030.

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Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development International Bank for Reconstruction and Development List of acronyms Acronymĭepartment for Business, Energy, and Industrial strategyĭepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsĮnding Preventable Deaths of mothers, newborns and childrenįoreign Commonwealth and Development Office Through this paper, we commit to harnessing UK innovation and using our experience and influence to improve global health and end preventable deaths. We have taken a leading role in these areas for decades. It reasserts the UK’s commitment to women and girls, global health, and to working with partner governments to build healthy and prosperous societies. This approach paper presents a broad approach because that is what is needed. Preventable deaths of women and children are fundamentally linked to the ability of women and girls to realise their right to exercise control over their own bodies, and access quality health services.Ī myriad of poverty-related factors also make death more likely-such as malnutrition, anaemia, dirty water and poor hygiene. The tragedy is that in most cases, with the right care, these deaths are avoidable. Every day, 7,000 newborn babies die and another 5,000 are stillborn. More than nine out of ten maternal deaths occur in the world’s poorest countries. Recent figures from 18 low-income countries suggest this disruption is causing 2.6 maternal and child deaths for every official COVID-19 death.Īction is required and this paper sets out our path. The economic consequences of the pandemic have also made health services unaffordable for many. This mission is now more urgent than ever, given the devastating impact of COVID-19 on healthcare services around the world.Īll too often, women and babies are missing out on life-saving maternity care, and children are missing vaccinations. The UK Government is committed to working with others to end the preventable deaths of mothers, babies, and children by 2030. By Wendy Morton MP, Minister for Europe and Americas with responsibility for global health, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

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