Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-03-Speech-3-251"
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"en.20080903.24.3-251"2
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Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, like the European Parliament, the Council attaches great importance to achieving all the Millennium Development Goals throughout the world by 2015 and particularly the one that aims to reduce the maternal mortality rate by three quarters between 1990 and 2015.
In this respect, the European Union recalls that lasting progress in this area requires respect for and promotion of the rights of women and girls by guaranteeing them access to health services, notably as regards sexual health and by protecting them from the AIDS virus. The three EU institutions have made clear their collective desire to improve maternal health in the developing countries, particularly through the signature on 20 December 2005 of the European Consensus on Development, which puts maternal health among the priorities for the EU’s development policy. We now have the necessary financial instruments to implement this goal, particularly within the framework of the partnership between the European Union and Africa on the Millennium Goals. As you know, regarding health, there are still considerable challenges to be met. They were mentioned in the United Nations annual report. 500 000 women still die each year from complications in pregnancy or childbirth that cannot be treated. These deaths cannot be avoided at this stage if we do not make any progress. The probability of a woman dying of these maternal causes is 1 in 16 in sub-Saharan Africa compared with 1 in 3 800 in developed countries. Therefore, in view of the scale of these challenges, in view of this totally unacceptable situation, the Council has taken the decision to accelerate and strengthen its action. In June, it adopted an Agenda for Action. The Agenda states that the EU will urgently support the attainment of the target set in 2005 regarding universal access to reproductive health and well as 2010 milestones to save – as you know – 4 million more children’s lives each year, 2 million of which in Africa, and to have 35 million more births attended by skilled health personnel each year, 13 million of which in Africa. If we want to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015, it means that 21 million more births will have to be attended by skilled health personnel each year by 2010.
The EU will provide support to reach the target of 50 million more women in Africa having modern contraceptives by 2010, and more generally to have access to family planning. The Agenda, which was implemented by the Council, also states that the EU will contribute to helping to bridge the financing gap to achieve these targets by 2010. I can tell you that the financing gap is today estimated at more than EUR 13 billion by the World Health Organisation.
If – and the Commissioner will tell us if this is the case – the European Commission believes that, to bridge the financing gap, we need to increase EU support by EUR 8 billion by 2010, of which EUR 6 billion would be destined for Africa, it is essential that both partner countries and donors are stakeholders in dealing with the challenges facing us.
In this context, the Presidency is therefore convinced that reinforcing the health systems of the developing countries remains a key priority of the Millennium Development Goals. Several concrete actions are planned, which I will list: the Presidency and the Commission are preparing a joint paper on covering health risks; development ministers are going to meet during the informal meeting, which will take place on 29 and 30 September, regarding the conclusions of the November Council meeting and the forthcoming presidencies for universal access to healthcare; and finally, the Council will examine the Commission report on the EU programme for action to tackle the critical shortage of health workers in developing countries – and I have made a note of how crucial this task is.
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, you can be sure that the Council will continue to act and do everything it can for the European Union to continue driving improvements in maternal health in developing countries, particularly Africa."@en1
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