"I got involved in the White Ribbon Alliance's Global Maternal Mortality Campaign not just because it is crucial for the women we are helping and the children that they raise; I know in my bones it is a fight we can win. I'm a very practical person and like to do things that make a measurable impact and you can see just how much of a difference this campaign is making. Just a few years ago, maternal mortality was listed at the heart of the UN's Millennium Development Goal target to reduce global poverty, yet was not even on the agenda at international summits, and every year well over 500,000 mothers lost their lives in pregnancy or childbirth. Today it is top of the international political agenda, and Tanzania's president Jakaya Kikwete and Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper are leading a new commission at the World Health Organisation. The latest statistics tell us that annual deaths have fallen to around 350,000 women – an improvement, but a fair way to go to reach our goals.
See more
