This is a political meeting… we’ll have world leaders speak and rev up our engines… We’ll have the private sector, government, and civil society all in one building at the same time. So we have really high hopes that as outcomes we’re going to get much greater political will when we make clear our case…
And your case is?
Our case in Women Deliver is just that: Women do deliver. Women deliver firewood and water and justice and education and opinion, but they also deliver babies. So, we’re focusing on the fact that it’s the composite of women and we’re saying to all the people there and in the world with the media’s help: Invest in women. It pays. It’s an economic reality. If you live and work in an agricultural economy, guess who does the labor? It’s the women. And if they die, there’s a zero return on your investment. And who can afford a zero return?...
We’ve got great people… There’s a Special Rapporteur at the UN named Paul Hunt. They’ve asked if they can launch a new initiative on human rights and maternal health at Women Deliver… The Gates Foundation is going to make known to the world their new strategy on maternal newborn child and reproductive health… The Lancet is doing a special issue called “Women Deliver” for the conference. Every day things like this are coming up…
I haven’t yet spoken to anyone, high level or real level, who thinks it’s appropriate for women to die when they’re having babies. They just don’t. It’s the future of the nation, future of the family, and they need them to live…
One of the things we’ve found that is so interesting is that women don’t always make the decisions in their families. So even if there’s healthcare nearby, it’s not always her decision to take advantage of it… part of what we’re doing with the Skilled Care Initiative is saying that women are important to the community, so let’s invest the community with some responsibility…
What are some other ways FCI gets involved?
