This post was also featured on The Huffington Post blog.
While the UN says that the world is on track to reach the first Millennium Development Goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015, progress toward goal #5, to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015, remains the target for which progress has been most disappointing. While there is progress, as highlighted by the Lancet’s recent estimates of falling maternal mortality rate, which is worth celebrating, the sense of urgency has not, and should not, abate.
According to Karl Hofmann’s recent article in the Huffington Post, with an additional $10 billion annually by 2010 and $20 billion by 2015 — there is just enough time to achieve MDG 5. The G8 summit gets underway today in Muskoka, Canada, is timely in that a focus of the summit is a new G8 initiative — conceived and led by Canada — to improve maternal, newborn, and child health in poor countries. With almost $3 billion already pledged by the Canadian government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, more commitments are expected from G8 partners for what is now being called the Muskoka Initiative.