Speech at Global Campaign press conference

Welcome all of you to this press conference.

One year ago we launched the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals.

We launched the Campaign to make renewed efforts to fulfil the promises we made adopting the Millennium Declaration eight years ago.

We are here to take stock. And to present a strategy for how to achieve these goals.

I am honoured to share this podium with Bill Gates, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President Bob Zoelleck and Director General Margaret Chan.

You have demonstrated global leadership and personal dedication in addressing one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

We launched this campaign because we recognized;

That unless we mobilize the international community, unless there is a radical change in the way we raise money, unless there is a radical change in the way we spend money, we will fail in achieving these goals.

Still a child dies every three seconds.

We set a goal of reducing child mortality by two thirds, from more than 12 million in 1990 to 4 million in 2015. At the present rate the reduction will be only one third.

We set a goal of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015. While we see progress towards most other Millennium Goals, in this area we hardly see any change at all.

Still a mother dies every minute giving birth. More than half a million a year. All from easily preventable causes.

This is an expression of the most brutal neglect of women that I can possibly imagine.  And as world leaders we all have a responsibility to act.

But the picture is not all black. There is some good news:

For the first time UN has reported that new Aids infections are decreasing; malaria is set to decline. Since 2004 60 million bed nets have been distributed by the Global Fund; more vaccines are reaching more children than ever before.

In Africa alone death from measles is down by over 90 per cent since 2000.

The US has committed 48 billion US dollars to combat malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis. But we need to do more. And we need to do better.

One year into the Global Campaign the international community has made maternal and newborn health a top priority.

Today we are here to take stock. And to decide on the way forward.

I am proud to present the Campaign’s “First Year Report” for the Health Millennium Development Goals. I acknowledge with gratitude the contributions by global leaders; Secretary-General Ban and the UN and its agencies, the G-8 and the EU.

And nongovernmental organizations like; the GAVI Alliance, the Global Fund, UNITAID, the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health and the Global Health Workforce Alliance.

You are all vital partners in the Global Campaign working towards a common goal: reducing mortality rates and improving health amongst the poorest of the poor.

And we know what to do: Delivering in safety is the single most important factor in saving the lives of mothers and newborn.

More women must deliver in clinics. But poor women need financial support for travel and care.

In India such support has led to a ten-fold increase in deliveries in clinics – from half a million to five million in only two years.

In Rwanda local communities are paid according to the number of people they reach with health services.

As a result, child mortality has been reduced by 30 percent. This proves it is possible. To achieve the UN Health Millennium Development Goals is within reach.

To provide quality health services for mothers and newborn in the poorest countries, we need to raise additional financial resources.

We need to gradually increase funding up to 7 billion dollars in 2015 to reach our goal.

This would save close to 3 million mothers and over 7 million newborn children over the next seven years.

That is why we are here to-day. To do our utmost to achieve these goals.

Thank you.