UN Women + new NCDs report & maternal mortality featured at UN CSW
55th UNCSW
22 FEBRUARY - 4 MARCH 2011 - The United Nations celebrated the official launch of its newest organization, UN Women, during the fifty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York. Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director, opened the first day of this year’s high-level session and moderated a panel discussion on the Commission's resolution, “Eliminating preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and the empowerment of women.” Also of MNCH interest: A side event saw the release of the world’s first report focused on the specific needs and challenges of girls and women at risk of, or living with non communicable diseases (NCDs) and an expert panel discussion took place, moderated by Ms Michelle Bachelet to discuss the earlier CSW resolution calling for the elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity .
“Non-communicable diseases: A priority for women’s health and development”
Delegates participated in a high-profile side event on 25 February 2011 about women and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which focused on the upcoming UN High-Level Summit on NCDs in September 2011, and the opportunity it presents for securing commitments for the biggest killer of women worldwide. This event also marked the official launch of the landmark publication “Non-communicable diseases: A priority for women’s health and development,” the first report to focus on the specific needs and challenges of girls and women at risk of, or living with NCDs.
Elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and the empowerment of women
In 2010, the Commission on the Status of Women adopted a resolution on “eliminating preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and the empowerment of women” (CSW resolution 54/5). During its fifty-fifth session, an expert panel discussion took place, moderated by Ms Michelle Bachelet, on 1 March 2011 to further explore this theme.
The panel featured seven panelists:
- Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA);
- Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights;
- Christoph Benn, Director of External Relations and Partnerships of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis;
- Mayra Buvinic, Sector Director in the Gender and Development Group at the World Bank;
- Werner Obermeyer, Executive Director ad interim of the World Health Organization (WHO) New York Office;
- Julia Kim, Cluster Leader for Mainstreaming HIV & Health and the Millennium Development Goals at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and
- Diane Summers, Senior Specialist at the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunizations.
Also taking part in the interactive discussion were representatives from Sudan, Greece, Ghana, United States, Mali, Canada, China, France, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Portugal, Switzerland and Japan.
The panel was an opportunity for the Commission to assess progress in addressing maternal mortality, identify good practices and successful interventions, as well as ways and means for further accelerating action with the aim of measurably reducing and eliminating maternal mortality, and achieving MDG 5. It was also an opportunity to bring further impetus to implementation of the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health.
In 2012, the Secretary-General will submit to the Commission on the Status of Women at its fifty-sixth session, a report on actions to strengthen linkages among programmes, initiatives and activities throughout the United Nations system for gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls, protection of all of their human rights and elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity (CSW resolution 54/5).