Canada’s leadership in maternal, newborn and child health will help improve health and nutrition in Guatemala
August 21, 2014 – Mississauga, Ontario – Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
Today, Lois Brown, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, and Brad Butt, Member of Parliament for Mississauga–Streetsville, co-hosted a round table with stakeholders to discuss Canada's leadership role in maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH), as well as the concrete actions Canada can take going forward to continue to improve the lives of mothers and their children in the developing world. This meeting was part of the consultations announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach summit, which took place in Toronto on May 28–30, 2014.
PS Brown is holding a series of MNCH round tables in Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan in the month of August. During today’s round table in Mississauga, Ontario, PS Brown took the opportunity to announce support to help improve MNCH in Guatemala.
“I am proud to announce Canada’s contribution to the National Survey on Maternal and Child Health in Guatemala supported by UNICEF,” said PS Brown. “This important initiative will contribute to improved health and nutrition programming based on reliable national statistics on MNCH and on food security in Guatemala."
“Peel Region is home to people from all over the world,” added MP Butt. “They want Canada to support women and children with their health needs, and that is why the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health initiative is so important.”
The consultation focused on how to ensure that global commitments deliver tangible results while remaining accountable to those in need as well as to Canadian taxpayers. Canada is committed to scaling up interventions that will have the greatest impact, including in the areas of nutrition, vaccination and newborn health.
“The initiative announced today will provide critical updated analyses that will help orient government, civil society and donor interventions in the health and nutrition sectors,” said Minister Paradis. This project, supported by UNICEF, is fully aligned with Canada’s engagement strategy in the Americas as well as our development priorities on food security and MCNH in Guatemala.”
In 2010, Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched the Muskoka Initiative, which put MNCH at the forefront of global development efforts. Thanks to Canadian leadership and subsequent global action, maternal mortality rates are declining and millions more children are celebrating their fifth birthday. Recognizing there is much more work to be done, Prime Minister Harper hosted the Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach summit in Toronto in 2014. At the summit, Canada committed an additional $3.5 billion in support and, through the Toronto Statement, laid the groundwork to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children under the age of five within a generation.
Sandrine Périon
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie
343-203-6238
sandrine.perion@international.gc.ca
Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
343-203-7700
media@international.gc.ca
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