wenews: U.N. to Ask $169 Billion Maternal Health Question, By Amy Lieberman:
The U.N. this week will be considering plans to save 16 millionwomen’s lives by 2015, as part of a major meeting focused on poverty-reducing goals. The big billion dollar question is not how it can bedone but whether the U.N. member states will provide enough funding.
“It’s a wonderful plan, but if the funding doesn’t show up and itisn’t implemented, then it doesn’t help much,” said Mary Anne Mercer,director of the Timor-Leste program for Health Alliance International,a Seattle-based international public health organization.
The effort to put women’s health back on the policy map comes daysafter Michelle Bachelet, the 58-year-old former president of Chile, wasappointed head of the United Nations’ new agency uniting four existingwomen and gender offices. The entity is called U.N. Women and has anunprecedented $500 million annual budget, more than double the existingresources available for all four agencies.
Added by: TP 09/20/10