Advance Global Health- Achieve the MDGs- Soroptimists at DPI/NGO August 30-Septmber 1 2010

Advance Global Health- Achieve the MDGs- Soroptimists at DPI/NGO August 30-Septmber 1 2010
For only the third time in 63 years this annual UN Event- the ONLY one designed specifically for NGOs to meet with the UN Agency of DPI is meeting in Melbourne, Australia focused on the issue of Global Health and achieving the Millennium Development Goals ( MDG)s. The vision statement o, f the event said:
” In Global Health we need more integration of programs, a focus on Maternal/child issues, methods to generate outcome data, cost effective delivery, sustainability and an emphasis on prevention. Therefore this conference should emphasize the multidisciplinary, multifaceted issues in fostering health, not just managing disease.”
Our SI delegation, lead by Dawn Marie Lemonds, International Programme Director with Alice Wells- President Elect accompanied 12 other Soroptimists including Yvonne Simpson- SI SWP President, Leigh Ellwood-Brown- Immediate Past President, Robyn Cain- Federation Programme Director and 9 other Soroptimists from Australia. Our SI Mandate and work intended for this conference was to promote the inclusion of gender into the discussion and workshops so that the DECLARATION for this conference that will be sent to the Secretary General for the MDG Summit to be held in New York at the end of September would include issues that were crucial to us. Attendees at the conference included 12 young women from WAGGGS- 4 who were part of our delegation because of a UN decision that every delegation would be given extra delegate allocation if they included people under 25! Our combined forces met, strategized our attendance and participation in the 4 Round Tables, and 54 workshops as well as our intention of bringing forward specific issues which included: Achievement of the MDGs must include gender as a critical factor for all, and all data used for determination of success for the MDGs must be disaggregated by gender. Part of our strategy planning included “keeping our ears open” to additional sessions that were offered, opportunities to present information to the press, presenting questions and statements at sessions and networking with other NGOs.
Soroptimist attendees will present additional postings over the next few days to report some of their observations. The Opening Session set out the work which immediately focused on gender issues and the fact that the two MDG issues that have made the least progress are the ones that involve women and children- particularly girls. The issue of Maternal Health has actually regressed from the year 2000 with women from southern hemispere and developing Countries experiencing 5 times as much infant and woman mortality as from developed countries. Attendees were welcomed by Kiyo Akasaka- Under Secretary General from the UN on behalf of the UN. He urged participants to advaocate to their governments and the privae sector to invest in women and children- which will have a significant benefit to society. "Health is at the core of teh MDGs" Additional issues that emerged from the beginning is the imperative of involving the communities that NGOs work- in the identification, analysis, development and imlementation of all programs.

More information to come....stand by....we want you to feel present and involved in YOUR UN activity
Dawn Marie Lemonds