Life-saving Commodities

President Jonathan, distinguished members of Parliament, honourable ministers, excellencies, dear friends,

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to be here today. This meeting marks an important step in the process of translating the recommendations of the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children into action. As you know, the Commission chairs, President Jonathan and Prime Minister Stoltenberg, recently met in New York to present the Commission’s report to the UN Secretary-General.

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Stoltenberg was unable to come to Abuja today because of the budget debate in the Norwegian parliament. However, he has asked me to deliver this speech on his behalf.

I would like to warmly thank President Jonathan and Nigeria for the excellent cooperation we have enjoyed while co-chairing the Commission on Life-Saving Commodities, and in the field of maternal and child health more generally.

In New York we presented a report setting out 10 bold recommendations.  We have identified 13 life-saving commodities that could save millions of lives – effectively and with a low price-tag. Now we need to ensure that these life-saving commodities reach those who need them most urgently.

What we also did in New York – and this is quite unique at such an early stage – was to present a detailed implementation plan. Furthermore, a large group of stakeholders have agreed to contribute to this effort and we have already secured funding to fill the gaps. A special trust fund will be set up for this purpose and administered by UNICEF and UNFPA.

In New York, we agreed to take stock in six months’ time to assess our progress. I look forward to seeing the concrete results of our combined efforts.

I would like to give a special word of appreciation to you, President Jonathan, for the commitment and leadership you have shown in engaging other African leaders. We welcome your raising these important issues at the Summit Meeting of the African Union. We welcome your initiatives to improve maternal and child health. These initiatives set an example for other countries to follow. 

Let me add that investing in women’s and children’s health, and thus in women’s empowerment, not only produces rewarding results for individuals, but can also lead to increased prosperity for an entire country. Norway is a good example of this. A hundred years ago, Norway was among Europe’s poorest nations. Now we are among the most prosperous.  

I wish to underline that one of the main reasons for our progress is that we have succeeded in mobilising all our human resources and putting them to good use. Since the early 1970s, women have doubled the pool of human resources in the workforce. They have created new jobs and generated tax revenue, enabling us to continue to invest in welfare and opportunities for all. I believe the key political lesson is this: strengthening women’s empowerment is one way to make a high-return investment in better health – not only for women themselves, but also for their families and for society as a whole.

Through your many initiatives, President Jonathan, you are taking a similar approach. Let me mention some of the commitments you have made:

• You have endorsed the Secretary-General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health and are committed to increasing Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to health by as much as 15 %.
  
  
• At the London Family Planning Summit in July you committed to achieving the goal of increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate substantially by 2018.
  
  
• The “Save One Million Lives” initiative seeks to drastically reduce child mortality in Nigeria by 2015.
  
  
• Through the national scale-up plan for essential medicines, you aim to reach an 80 % coverage level for recommended treatments for childhood diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria by 2015.

Through your impressive policies, you will scale up the use of two of the life-saving commodities recommended by the Commission: Zinc and Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), used in the treatment of diarrhoea. You will also – together with the Clinton Health Access Initiative – take the lead on implementing the Commission’s recommendations for these two products.

We are also pleased to note that you are working on implementing mobile health, or mHealth as it is known. Mobile phone applications have the potential to help health workers share essential information with mothers and their families. They can also be used to help in the distribution of these life-saving commodities.

From the perspective of the Commission, the most important task is the implementation of its recommendations. Nigeria’s endeavours are an example of this. I am very pleased to note that there are also representatives from other countries, organisations and stakeholders present here today who will each do their part in helping us to achieve our common goal: to stop the preventable deaths of millions of mothers and children by ensuring that they get the right medicines at the right time.

Norway is pleased to be cooperating with Nigeria on achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. Together with the UK, we are supporting a successful programme to reduce maternal and child mortality in four states in Northern Nigeria. Major achievements have been made, which have had a positive impact on maternal and newborn health. The 2011 mid-term household survey indicated that births supervised by skilled birth attendants have doubled and infant mortality has halved since the programme started. In spite of the huge challenges the Northern region is facing, the programme has performed well.

I am pleased to announce that as part of our continued collaboration with Nigeria we will commit, subject to parliamentary approval, 25 million dollars over five years in support of your Save One Million Lives initiative, and in particular to support your work to promote the use of oral rehydration salts and zinc, as well as mobile health.

In closing let me wish you every success with the important work that you are taking on here today.

Our recommendations can save the lives of over 6 million women and children over the next five years. I am confident that by working together we can succeed.

Now it’s up to us to put our words into action. There is no time to lose.

Thank you.