At the May 2014 Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach summit in Toronto, Prime Minister Stephen Harper committed to consulting Canadians, as well as civil society, and academic and private sector organizations, over the summer. These discussions will build on the immense success of the summit and will ensure that Canadians’ wealth of expertise continues to shape Canada’s top development priority.
Consultations will also inform programming decisions related to Canada’s $3.5-billion commitment to maternal, newborn and child health through 2015–2020.
Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach summit
Prime Minister Stephen Harper hosted the highly successful Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach summit, which provided renewed momentum to advance maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) as a global priority beyond 2015. The summit took place on May 28–30, 2014, in Toronto, Ontario.
Over the course of the summit, leaders and experts worked together to advance three priority themes:
Getting Results for Women and Children: Summit participants highlighted the benefits of coordinated action and the successes achieved since 2010. Leaders and experts also pointed to the importance of providing increased support for nutrition through key partners such as the Micronutrient Initiative, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and UNICEF. In addition, Summit participants welcomed the announcement that Germany would host the GAVI replenishment meeting in 2015, and called on all partners to increase their support to the GAVI Alliance.
Doing More Together Globally: Summit participants also called for increased efforts to work together. They also called for more timely, reliable, accurate and accessible health information as a critical catalyst for greater accountability within national health systems. In addition, they agreed that a wider spectrum of expertise and resources is needed, including from the private sector, foundations, science and technology communities, non-governmental organizations and civil society, in addition to traditional partners, local governments, and citizens.
Taking Real Action on Women’s and Children’s Health: Summit participants called on all partners to maintain progress and increase momentum on efforts to achieve United Nations Millennium Development Goals 4 (to reduce child mortality) and 5 (to improve maternal health) by the end of 2015. Summit discussions also made it clear that ending preventable deaths of women and children within a generation will mean carrying forward the lessons learned, including the need for political leadership, sustained financial commitments, robust accountability measures, and a renewed focus on the approaches that are proven to save the lives of women and children.
Participants welcomed Canada’s renewed commitment of $3.5 billion toward MNCH through 2015–2020, and called on other global donors to meet their commitments to women and children leading up to and going beyond 2015. Summit discussions also emphasized the need for common goals and for governments, international organizations, civil society, businesses and health leaders to ensure that ending preventable maternal, newborn and under-five child mortality by 2030 is a central priority within the post-2015 development agenda.
During today’s consultation, the following initiative was announced:
National Survey on Maternal and Child Health in Guatemala ($1.5 million)
Guatemala has the fourth-highest rate in the world of chronic malnutrition in children under the age of 5. Canada’s $1.5-million contribution, through UNICEF, to the National Survey on Maternal and Child Health in Guatemala will help provide decision makers with the strategic information they need to advance their commitment to reducing chronic malnutrition and food insecurity, and to improving the lives of Guatemalan women, men and children.
This project will:
- provide technical assistance and financial resources to Guatemala’s Ministry of Health and the National Statistics Institute to prepare and conduct the survey throughout the country;
- procure the equipment and professional services needed to carry out the survey;
- develop and implement a public information campaign to encourage participation in the survey; and
- analyze and disseminate the statistics gathered, and publish and publicly present a specific study on food and nutrition security.
In 2007, Prime Minister Harper announced that reviving and expanding Canadian political and economic engagement in the Americas is a major foreign policy goal. Canada places great value in Canada’s relationships with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Guatemala.
For more information on Canada’s programming in Guatemala, visit Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada’s website.
