Canadian Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda is travelling to Africa Aug. 16-26 to strengthen the country’s partnerships with Mozambique and Mali, among other countries, in the area of maternal, newborn and infant health.
“It is important to our government that African communities are actively engaged in Canada’s work toward improving the health of mothers, newborns, and children under the age of five,” Oda said in a statement from the Canadian International Development Agency.
During her visit, Oda is expected to meet with African health ministers and other government officials, as well as local communities and health groups. The meetings will focus on identifying maternal and child health care gaps and best practices to address these gaps. She will also host round-table discussions with other donors, including G-8 members, the CIDA news release said.
Canada championed maternal and child health in the G-8 leaders’ summit in June. It also announced new commitments worth 1.1 billion Canadian dollars (USD1.05 billion) to improve maternal and child health in developing countries. Up to 80 percent of these new funds will be dedicated to health initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years, CIDA said.
