Commonwealth Health Ministers to meet in Geneva
11 May 2005
The 2005 Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday, 15 May. Health Ministers will discuss health priorities in Commonwealth member countries, and in particular strategies to halt the rise of maternal deaths.
The meeting, on the eve of the World Health Assembly (WHA), will focus on the theme: 'Investing in Maternal Health: Cost and Benefits'. Two of the UN Millennium Development Goals, to which all Commonwealth governments are committed, focus on maternal health and reducing child mortality.
Ministers will discuss three aspects of the theme:
- Costing maternal deaths and measuring progress in improving maternal health
- Improving human resources for health
- The impact of HIV/AIDS on maternal health
Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox will open the meeting, which will be addressed by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Lee Jong-wook.
Also present will be representatives of partner UN organisations and non-governmental organisations working in health. A roundtable on human resources for health will include a discussion on the Commonwealth Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health Workers.
"Sixty per cent of maternal deaths are in Commonwealth countries. More needs to be done to improve their health care systems, which are increasingly being eroded by the loss of health workers through migration," said Ann Keeling, Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat's Social Transformation Programmes Division.
A recent WHO report highlighted the problem of more than half a million women dying each year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths are preventable, and 99 per cent of them occur in the developing world. Poor maternal health has also been a major cause of newborn deaths. Four million infants die before the age of one month, two-thirds in their first week of life.
In collaboration with the WHO, the Commonwealth Secretariat has produced a seven-part television series focusing on maternal health problems in selected Commonwealth and other countries, suggesting cost-effective solutions and presenting examples of best practice. The series is being broadcast by the BBC worldwide, and will be distributed and screened at the Health Ministers Meeting.
Keynote speakers at the Meeting will include Joy Phumaphi, Assistant Director-General, Family and Community Health, World Health Organisation, and Dr Khama Rogo, Lead Health Sector Specialist, Population and Reproductive Health, Human Development Department, World Bank. A presentation by Dr David Heymann of the WHO will focus on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Note to Editors:
Commonwealth Health Ministers meet annually in Geneva. This year's Meeting will take place at the Ramada Park Hotel on Sunday, 15 May 2005. For further information please contact Meeting Spokesperson Daniel Woolford on +44 (0) 20 7747 6514, or (from 14 May) on +44 (0) 7921 409 712 or +41 (0) 22 710 3000.
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