The African Union Summit,
Kampala, Uganda July 19 - 27th

This year, African leaders will meet in Kampala, Uganda for the AU Summit in July. Maternal and child health are top of the agenda. WRA and its coalition partners call on African leaders to:

1. Implement realistic, costed and accelerated national plans
Every country government should have a realistic acceleration plan for reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality. National plans should focus on proven packages and treatment, provided through national health systems, for the main killers of women and children. Essential elements within such package should include comprehensive reproductive health services, effective antenatal care, skilled attendance at birth (including emergency care), essential newborn and postnatal care, immunization services, and measures to improve the nutritional status of mothers and children. Comprehensive national plans addressing maternal, newborn and child health would form the basis of national commitments towards the United Nations Secretary General’s Joint Action Plan on Millennium Development Goals 4 (to reduce child deaths by two-thirds by 2015) and 5 (to reduce maternal deaths by three quarters by 2015). Organizations working to reduce newborn, child and maternal deaths in Africa call on donors, national governments and others to more than double current annual spending on health interventions, from an estimated US $31 billion in 2008 to US $67–76 billion in 2015.

2. Meet and exceed Abuja 15% target
African governments should, at a minimum, meet the 15% Abuja target and progress beyond this to a package of integrated health and social development financing (meeting the WHO recommended minimum package of at least $40 per capita investment in health, and also investing in crucial social determinants and pillars of health). Health budgets must be effectively monitored. Meeting and exceeding the 15% target will provide vital national commitments towards the United Nations Secretary General’s Joint Action Plan on MDGs 4 and 5.

3. Reduce the gap between the rich and the poor
Donors, international institutions and developing country governments must set targets for reducing the inequality in the coverage of proven interventions between rich and poor, including an equitable funding mechanism for healthcare to ensure services are free at the point of use for pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 5; targets to reduce death rates across income groups and other social groups; and social protection and food security interventions to ensure the poor have access to good nutrition.

4. Retain, train and organize more health workers
An additional 4.3 million health workers are urgently needed across developing countries as a whole, to strengthen health systems and meet the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. Governments, donors and international organizations should make building health workforce capacity a priority, particularly the recruitment, training and retention of front-line health care providers, to serve in their communities or in clinics close to their homes. Better incentives must be developed to encourage women to become front-line health workers and to keep well-qualified health workers – at all levels – where they are needed most.

To download the African Union Atlas of Birth: Investing in the Future- Why the African Union Summit Must Increase Health Spending to Save the Lives of Africa's Women and Children PDF document, click here.

To download the Africa's Progress Towards Achieving MDGs 4 and 5 PDF brochure, click here.

Read the letter from eminent Africans urging AU leaders to save women and newborns in English, French, and Portuguese.

Click here to read WRA Global Patron Sarah Brown’s letter to African Union Heads of State.

Click here to read the declaration on maternal, newborn and child health from the Fifteenth Ordinary Session of the African Union Heads of State.



Key media stories around
the African Union Summit

Global Update: Speaking Truth to Power to Save Africa's Women and Children
WRA News: Global Update August 2010
Read Now: Speaking Truth to Power to Save Africa's Women and Children

WRA National Alliances in Africa Respond to African Union Summit Communiqué 2010
WRA National Alliances in Burkina Faso, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda explain how they will hold their leaders accountable for changing AU Summit pledges into action
Read More: WRA National Alliances in Africa Respond to African Union Summit Communiqué 2010

AU Promises Prescribe Action: Achieving Maternal and Child Health in Africa
WRA Deputy Director Betsy McCallon and Director of the Maternal Mortality Campaign Jo Cox blog on the outcomes of the African Union Summit in Kampala, Uganda
Read More: AU Promises Prescribe Action: Achieving Maternal and Child Health in Africa

AU Summit: Less Rhetoric and More Action Needed to Save Women and Children's Lives
Fair Play for Africa, FEMNET, Oxfam, Save the Children and WRA respond to the AU Summit's final declaration
Read More: AU Summit: Less Rhetoric and More Action Needed to Save Women and Children's Lives

Participation and Outcomes from the African Union-Civil Society Organization Pre Summit Meeting
Read the second blog on the Pre Summit Meeting by Rose Mlay, National Coordinator for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in Tanzania (WRATZ)
Read More: Participation and Outcomes from the African Union-Civil Society Organization Pre Summit Meeting

Daily News: From a Zouk Diva to Safe Motherhood Advocate
Read the profile of WRA Global Ambassador Stara Thomas, who has been working with WRA in Tanzania for five years and recently performed as part of the East African Caravan for Maternal Health
Read More: From a Zouk Diva to Safe Motherhood Advocate

WRA-Uganda Joins the East African Caravan on Maternal Health
Read the report and view photos from WRA-Uganda member Nsinda Elman
Read More: White Ribbon Alliance partners with CSOs to further safe motherhood

Tanzania Daily News: Need to Check Traditional Midwives' Role
Abdulwakil Saiboko of Tanzania’s Daily News interviews Dr. Meshack Massi, WRA Member and Regional Medical Officer in Mwanza during stop there by the East African Caravan for Maternal Health
Read More: Tanzania: Need to Check Traditional Midwives' Role

Eminent Africans Urge AU Leaders to Reach Millennium Goals to Save Women and Newborns
Ahead of the African Union Summit, eminent Africans including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, model and actress Liya Kebede, running star Haile Gebrselassie, and musicians Angélique Kidjo, Baaba Maal and Yvonne Chaka Chaka have written an open letter to AU leaders calling for urgent action to reduce maternal and child deaths
Read Press Release

Pre Summit Meeting Report
Report on the African Union/Civil Society Organizations Pre Summit Meeting, Kampala Uganda 14 – 16th July 2010
Download the Pre Summit Meeting Report

Daily News: How Husbands Could Reduce Maternal Deaths
Following events surrounding the East African Maternal Health Caravan in Tanzania, organized in part by WRA in Tanzania (WRATZ), Arumeru District Commissioner Ms. Mercy Silla announced her decision to join WRATZ
Read More: How Husband Could Reduce Maternal Deaths

African Union-Civil Society Organization Pre Summit Meeting
Read the blog by Rose Mlay, National Coordinator for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in Tanzania (WRATZ)
Read the blog by Rose Mlay

The Guardian: Stara Thomas Makes Pregnant Women Dance
WRA Global Ambassador Stara Thomas sings safe motherhood song "Play Your Part" and educates Tanzanian women about maternal health during the East African Caravan on Maternal Health
Read More: Stara Thomas Makes Pregnant Women Dance

WRA Joins Global Call to African Leaders to Act Now to Save the Lives of Mothers, Newborns and Children
WRA joins groups demanding urgent progress on maternal, newborn and child health in advance of this year's African Union Summit
Read the WRA Press Release (PDF)

African Leaders Must Act Now to Save the Lives of Mothers, Newborns and Children, Say People's Organisations from Across the Continent
Today marks the start of a three-day meeting in Kampala, Uganda, of groups demanding urgent progress on health - and calling on African leaders to keep the promises made by governments of the world to dramatically reduce the needless deaths of mothers, their newborns and children
Read the Press Release (PDF)

WRA Releases Atlas of Birth Urging African Leaders to Invest in Health Workers to Save Lives of Women and Children
Resource includes percentage of births without trained personnel, lifetime risk of maternal mortality, and government expenditure on health by African country
Download a copy of the 2010 AU Atlas of Birth (PDF)

Tanzania Welcomes the East African Caravan on Maternal Health
Sheila Mulli of the East African Caravan on Maternal Health blogs about WRA Global Ambassador Stara Thomas' performance and speech and other events in Tanzania
Read More: Tanzania Welcomes the East African Caravan on Maternal Health

East African Caravan on Maternal Health: From Womb to Tomb 3rd July - 16th July 2010
Follow the East African Caravan on Maternal Health by reading the Caravan blog in the lead up to the African Union Summit
Read More: Cross Country to Mwanza, oh where art thou East African Community?

WRA in Tanzania Releases Message to African Union Summit at Press Conference
Call to action to African leaders includes national acceleration plans for maternal, newborn and child mortality; increased health funding to meet the Abuja target; access to services for the poor; and additional health workers
MATERNAL AND NEWBORN MORTALITY IN AFRICA: MESSAGE TO AU SUMMIT IN KAMPALA, JULY 2010 (PDF)

WRA-Uganda Hosts Pre-African Youth Forum
Event held in advance of the African Youth Forum aims to gather young people's opinions about maternal health solutions
Read More: WRA-Uganda takes Maternal Health to Another Level



Press Inquiries

For further information, please contact:

Deborah Clark, Communications Director
dclark@whiteribbonalliance.org
Tel: +1 202-679-2399

For general, non-press related inquiries, please email info@whiteribbonalliance.org

Key Dates: