Parliamentarians take action for maternal and newborn health: report on meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, 26-28 November 2008
Overview
Members of Parliament from 32 developing and developed countries as well as partners from international agencies and NGOs gathered in The Hague to discuss how parliamentarians can contribute to improve the health of women and newborn. The meeting that also included visits to Dutch health facilities and other institutions was organized by the WHO Department of Making Pregnancy Safer together with the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) and the parliament of the Netherlands.
The lawmakers used the opportunity to develop a roadmap with a variety of action points that can help to improve the situation in their countries. They identified seven key priority areas (pillars) in which action is needed most urgently if countries want to achieve Millennium Development Goals 5 and 4 aiming to improve maternal and newborn health. The pillars include political commitment, education, health systems, legislation, financial resourcing, cultural practices and partnership.