Launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in September 2010, Every Woman Every Child is an unprecedented global movement that mobilizes and intensifies international and national action by governments, multilaterals, the private sector and civil society to address the major health challenges facing women and children around the world. The movement puts into action the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, which presents a roadmap on how to enhance financing, strengthen policy and improve service on the ground for the most vulnerable women and children.
Every Woman Every Child provides a new opportunity to improve the health of hundreds of millions of women and children around the world, and in so doing, to improve the lives of all people. The health of women and children is critically important to almost every area of human development and progress, and directly impacts our success in achieving all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by world leaders in 2000.
Every Woman Every Child recognizes that all actors have an important role to play in improving women's and children's health. More than $40 billion was pledged at the 2010 launch, and numerous partners have made additional, and critical, financial, policy and service delivery commitments, but more help is needed. The Secretary-General is asking the international community for the additional commitments necessary to take Every Woman Every Child past the tipping point. This would mean saving the lives of 16 million women and children, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, ending stunting in 88 million children, and protecting 120 million children from pneumonia by 2015.
Global Strategy
The Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health presents a concrete plan to improve women's and children's health and accelerate progress towards the health Millennium Development Goals. It sets out the key areas where action is urgently required by all stakeholders to enhance financing, strengthen policy and improve service delivery. These include:
