Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-03-Speech-3-252"
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"en.20080903.24.3-252"2
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"Mr President, the right to health is probably the basic right with the most inequalities in the world today. Those in greatest need, at greatest risk of ill health and premature death, have the worst access to health care – often zero access. This poses enormous challenges to the European Union and to the world community as a whole.
Regarding MDG 5, the Agenda for Action on MDGs mentioned two important targets by 2010: firstly, 21 million more births attended by skilled health workers and, secondly, 50 million more women to have access to modern contraceptives in Africa.
We the Commission – but also the Member States – will now have to make it happen together. We have made the commitment and we are determined to improve the situation of women in poor countries giving birth, which I think is the most natural thing in the world. I am glad that, as the Commissioner for External Relations today, in place of Louis Michel, I can say that, because, as a woman, I feel very much in solidarity.
The European Union is very committed to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including MDG 5 on maternal health, which is the subject we are discussing today.
We are aware of the fact that scaling up sexual and reproductive health and health funding in general requires a far more coherent and multi-sectoral approach, also involving other MDGs. Health results cannot be achieved without adequate investment in the systems that deliver better health. Health policy needs to be embedded in broader social and economic development planning. Countries need long-term predictable aid from external donors. Donors need to see a clear link between financing and results, and mechanisms to hold all partners accountable for their performance against international agreements are badly needed.
Poor people – women, men and children – living in developing countries encounter a wide range of interrelated sexual and reproductive health problems. These include HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, complications encountered in pregnancy and childbirth, genital mutilation or cutting, infertility, sexual abuse, unsafe abortion and cancer of the cervix, among others. Together, these conditions are responsible for much suffering and many premature deaths. Exacerbated by poverty and the secondary position of women in society they are basically due to the lack of access to appropriate health services, lack of information and inadequate availability of skilled professionals and supplies of reproductive health commodities.
Therefore, improving maternal health and reducing maternal mortality have been key concerns of the European Commission’s work in health and development. However, despite our efforts and the MDG targets, MDG 5 is possibly the goal which is most off-track globally – especially, as has already been said, in Africa. This is very serious, all the more so because most maternal deaths occur at home, far removed from the health services, and often go unrecorded. So the actual maternal mortality figure might even be much higher than the half million a year that we are aware of according to the statistics.
From a political point of view, there is another issue which causes concern. This is the increasing tendency not to prioritise sexual and reproductive health and rights policies in programmes because of sensitivities to abortion. By doing so, we are forgetting about the unequal position of women in many of our partner countries who have no say about the number of children they want or are forced to have sexual relations, sometimes even with a partner who is likely to be HIV-infected. Let us not forget about the many victims of rape, the young girls and women who, on top of their injuries and trauma, often get rejected by their relatives and communities.
Under the 10th European Development Fund and the Commission budget, we are therefore programming direct support to health in 31 developing countries. Many of these countries have very high maternal mortality rates and very weak health systems.
In this regard, budget support linked to health outcomes becomes another important instrument to address maternal mortality. To make this aid more predictable, the Commission is introducing in a number of partner countries a new financing modality called ‘MDG contracting’, under which budget support will be made over a longer term, linked with agreed outcomes which contribute towards the achievement of the MDGs. This will allow governments to support recurrent costs of health systems, such as the salaries of health workers. This is critical to increase access to basic healthcare, including safe deliveries and progress towards MDG 5.
However, we know that what is being done in support of maternal health at the moment is not sufficient and that more efforts are needed to change the present situation. This is why on 24 June 2008 the Council of the European Union adopted the EU Agenda for Action on MDGs, whereby the Commission and the Member States commit themselves to increase their support to health by the additional EUR 8 billion which has been mentioned, and EUR 6 billion in Africa, by 2010."@en1
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