HomeUnited KingdomSpeech: Minister Andrew Mitchell speech at global event on Ending Preventable Deaths

Speech: Minister Andrew Mitchell speech at global event on Ending Preventable Deaths

To save a mother and a baby requires almost every part of the health system to be working well. Our third focus must be integration. Approximately 5 million deaths each year are as a result of poor quality healthcare. So we must strengthen the ‘backbone’ of the health systems, including community and primary care, supply chains, midwifery, health financing and vaccines. We have to focus on every contributor to child and maternal health – everything from good nutrition to hygiene and sanitation. From clean water and air, to supporting people, especially women and girls, to make healthy choices. The UK government – and I as the UK’s Ending Preventable Deaths Ministerial Champion – remain committed to working with everyone who shares our wish to end preventable deaths. Progress has been blown off course by the pandemic and Putin’s war. But solutions are all around us. We must sharpen our focus on three things: We know that we can achieve more together than we can alone. So let’s continue to bring people together, focus on solutions and innovation, and halt the preventable deaths of more mothers, babies and children. First, equity. We must push for high quality services, including services that are kind and respect the rights of women, girls and other marginalised groups. We must give communities a voice in decisions about their health services, and support trained, paid and motivated health workers, who have access to the equipment and drugs they need. The central component to all these efforts is partnership… governments, donors, health professionals and people working together for better services and better outcomes. Thank you to all partners here for energising the global fight against child and maternal deaths. Our second focus must be quality. We know these preventable deaths disproportionately affect poor and marginalised groups, and are fuelled by conflict and instability. I am happy to announce that we will launch a new UK EPD programme to provide technical and strategic support to a set of flagship countries who want to partner with us and where the need for UK support is greatest. Thank you. We must listen to and champion the needs of marginalised communities. We must support them to hold their leaders to account, so that regardless of where people live, they can access and afford the health services they need. Despite global goals and widespread efforts, a pregnant woman, newborn baby or child dies every 6 seconds.

Source

Stay Connected
255FansLike
473FollowersFollow
Must Read
Related News