Statement by Mr. Bruce Campbell, UNFPA Representative and United Nations Resident Coordinator /United Nations Country Team Viet Nam
We value the important key role played by the media in advocating for reproductive rights, women's health and gender equality, and we look forward to answering your questions relating to the theme of this year's World Population Day: "Responding to the economic crisis: Investing in women is a smart choice".
We all know that the global economic crisis is hitting developing countries hard. It threatens to push 200 million people in the world back into poverty, and experience has shown that women and girls suffer disproportionately during times of crisis such as this. To protect their rights, we are here today to call for continued investment in women and renewed efforts to ensure progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Every year, the world loses USD 15 billion in productivity because half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth, and four million newborns do not survive. And yet it is estimated to cost only USD 6 billion to provide the health services needed to save these lives. Most maternal and neonatal deaths can be prevented through universal access to reproductive health care services. For this to happen, health systems need to be strengthened to provide family planning, skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care. These measures, if implemented comprehensively in
In fact, progress has been made in expanding access to reproductive health and in integrating family planning and pre and post natal care and HIV prevention in
The UN in Viet Nam has supported the Ministry of Health in a variety of ways, including strengthening access to, and quality of, emergency obstetric and newborn care; building the capacity of skilled birth attendants and ethnic midwives; enhancing health education for safe delivery and community-based referral system for emergencies; and preventing HIV transmission while increasing women's access to HIV prevention and treatment.
At the same time, the Government reported in 2008 that the maternal mortality ratio reached 75 deaths per 100,000 live births in
Research has shown that investment to scale up basic health services can bring a six-fold economic return. For example, in
I also want to emphasize that MDG5 on maternal health is recognized to be at the heart of all eight Millennium Development Goals. If we don't reduce tragic and unnecessary maternal deaths and guarantee access to reproductive health, we will not achieve the other MDGs.
To maintain the momentum toward achieving MDG5, three things are needed. First, resources must continue to be devoted to enhancing the quality of safe motherhood services for ethnic minority people in remote and mountainous areas. We need to pay special attention to ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups. We need data, robust monitoring and evaluation. And we need better coordination and harmonization between partners to increase efficiency gains and maximize the impact of our investments.
Secondly, it is essential we strengthen and improve the knowledge, skills and attitudes among service providers of maternal health and newborn care. The priority should be on skilled attendance at delivery with a strengthened referral system to a centre which can provide comprehensive care, including emergency obstetric and new born care. With universal access to these critical reproductive health services, maternal death and disability could be reduced dramatically.
Thirdly, to save women's lives, we need strong leadership at all levels. We need increased spending for women's health in national budgets, and where gaps are identified, we need increased international development assistance. We know from other countries' experiences from previous crises that decreased investments in health took longer and required more resources to get back to the pre-crisis level of health standards. We cannot allow this to happen in
Today, on the occasion of the World Population Day, we need to translate our commitment to support health and equal opportunity for all people into action. It is time to make health and reproductive rights a priority for all, especially for women. And finally, I would like to ask each and every one of you, as professional journalists who are attending this press conference, to assist in disseminating the key messages of the WPD 2009 as widely as possible to policy makers and implementers at all levels.
Thank you very much for your attention and participation and I am looking forward to hearing your questions.