“Girls’ and women’s health and rights must be prioritized today, tomorrow, and every day until our work is done. Because we know, when girls and women survive, all of us thrive.”  Women Deliver President Jill Sheffield.

The annual Women Deliver conference, held this year on May 28 – 30 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,  highlighted the vital importance of investing in women and girls’ futures and reducing the unmet need for contraception.  Women Deliver focusses on the health and well-being of women and girls worldwide, calling for action to improve policies and standards.

Dame Carol Kidu, former Member of Parliament in Papua New Guinea and member of Soroptimist International Port Moresby, was a speaker at this event. Dame Kidu featured on a panel of speakers at a discussion entitled Women at the Table: Investing in Women’s Civil and Political Participation in addition to speaking at other lectures.

This discussion focused on integrating women into policy-making decisions and the need for female leadership positions. Speakers discussed successful strategies that have enabled women to increase their participation in civil and political matters, and the need for these models to be replicated to cover sexual and reproductive health and rights in the near future. In her capacity as a politician, Dame Kidu expressed a need for women to be in positions of political leadership with a responsibility of decision making.

In 2008, just over 18 percent of the seats in national parliaments were held by women. Countries where women’s share of seats in political bodies is less than 30 percent are less inclusive, less egalitarian, and less democratic.

Elsewhere across the three day conference, discussions covered family planning, sexual and reproductive issues and childbirth. Conference attendees were reminded of maternal mortality rates worldwide and lectures focused on how to improve these figures in light of the Millennium Development Goals. In her capacity as the founder and patron of Safe Motherhood Alliance for Papua New Guinea, Dame Kidu featured on a panel to discuss upholding the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV, in line with the Global Plan.

More than 287,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth every year. There has been a 47% decline from 1990 levels, but there are still approximately 800 deaths each day. 99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries. SI is working to reduce maternal mortality in Papua New Guinea through the Birthing in Pacific Project.

Additionally, Dame Carol Kidu acted as a moderator for a discussion centred upon sexual and reproductive rights. The unmet need for contraception was addressed in this discussion and in others across the three day conference. The Millennium Development goals identified the need for universal access to contraception methods to enable women to plan and space their pregnancies. This particular goal has not been fully met and so the post-2015 development agenda needs to include a realistic target, tailored to accessing family planning worldwide. Focusing upon and providing methods for improving women’s health (including reproductive and general health) is a target that Soroptimist International shares in and strive to enhance.

More than 222 million women worldwide have an unmet need for contraception.Of the 210 million pregnancies occurring each year, nearly 33 million are unintended. 

The conference concluded by calling for continued investment in girls and women worldwide. The importance of continued investment was emphasised both for an educational purpose and gender equality. Governmental ministers in attendance at the conference pledged to ensure universal access to family planning. With post-2015 development goals soon to be announced, Government ministers announced that sexual and reproductive rights would be central to the post-2015 development agenda.

Investing another US $12 billion a year (for a total of US $24 billion) would fulfill the unmet need for family planning and provide every woman with the recommended standard of maternal and newborn care. The results:

• Reducing unintended pregnancies by more than 66%
• Preventing 70% of maternal deaths and averting 44% of newborn deaths
• Reducing unsafe abortion by 73%
• Cutting disability-adjusted life years lost to pregnancy-related illness and premature death by 66%

Investing in women brings positive returns. It would also:

• Return as much as US $15 billion dollars in productivity, now lost to maternal and newborn death
• Improve public health for all by developing strong, accessible health systems
• Prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections
• Empower girls and women with greater opportunity for education and employment
• Strengthen families, communities, economies, nations, and our world

Facts and figures in italics from http://www.womendeliver.org/knowledge-center/facts-figures/

Image: Dame Carol Kidu, Soroptimist and former Member of Parliament in Papua New Guinea