Deliver Now for Women + Children: Historic Global Drive to Improve Maternal Health and Reduce Child Deaths is Launched in New York City; Unveiling of Country Specific Programs in India, Tanzania to Follow

In an historic effort to eliminate maternal and child deaths and
improve the health of women and children around the world, a global
coalition of governments and organizations has come together to launch
a major drive called Deliver Now for Women + Children.

Every year over 10 million mothers and children die from mostly
preventable causes. Every minute of every day, a woman dies needlessly
during pregnancy or childbirth. Every three seconds a child under five
dies. Four million newborns die in their first four weeks of life, 3
million of those in the first week. And with 42 percent of pregnant
women around the world experiencing a complication, up to 15 percent
of which are life-threatening, the issue of protecting the lives of
women and children during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond is one of
the most critical facing the world today.

"Today is a day of hope for women and children. The cause of
women's and children's health has remained in the shadows for too long
and been neglected on the policy agenda. It is at last getting the
political and public respect it has always deserved," said Dr.
Francisco Songane, Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn &
Child Health, the driving force behind the development of Deliver Now.
"We are hopeful that this initiative will result in large-scale action
to ensure health services are available for all with prompt access and
without discrimination."

Deliver Now will be launched September 26 amidst rallies in
Manhattan and the Bronx and awareness-raising events across the city
to build popular support for the drive throughout the week. The launch
will also coincide with the convening of a panel at the United
Nations, "Saving 77 Million Lives", featuring women UN leaders and
global health activists discussing the critical issues facing women
and children around the world.

The launch will be followed by other global events, such as the
high-profile conference Women Deliver in London October 18-20
(www.womendeliver.org), and the roll out of intensive local programs
in individual countries, beginning in 2008 in India and Tanzania. In
these countries, Deliver Now will bring together local government
agencies, civil society, media and other national and international
members of the initiative to allocate resources and more effectively
bring basic health services to women and children. The results of
these programs will be closely monitored to ensure success and
accountability.

Deliver Now is coordinated by The Partnership for Maternal,
Newborn & Child Health and is being launched in support of a new
global push to achieve the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
related to health. It is part of the Global Campaign for the Health
Millennium Development Goals, which will be unveiled September 26 by
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway at the Clinton Global
Initiative in New York City. The Global Campaign is supported by
several governments including the UK, Norway, Canada, France and
Germany, as well as a number of prominent global health and advocacy
organizations. The launch of Deliver Now follows the recent launch of
the International Health Partnership in London by British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown and other world leaders. Deliver Now is
specifically dedicated to advancing MDGs 4 and 5, which call for the
reduction of child deaths by two-thirds and annual reduction of
maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015.

Deliver Now's first country-specific programs will include:

-- Advocacy for Maternal and Child Health in India - Currently,
20 percent of the world's births are in India but 25 percent
of the world's child deaths and 20 percent of the world's
maternal deaths occur there as well. Deliver Now will work
with local organizations to implement a program to build
political will to ensure delivery of services and raise
awareness in the Indian states of Orissa and Rajasthan.

-- Advocacy for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Tanzania -
Tanzania currently faces a critical shortage of qualified
health workers to assist during childbirth, with 54 percent of
women receiving no skilled attendance. As a result, a woman
dies of pregnancy-related complications every hour of every
day. Deliver Now will work to deliver services and raise
awareness in the Tanzanian districts of Geita, Monduli,
Sumbawanga, Morogoro, and Babati.

To find out more about Deliver Now for Women + Children, visit
www.delivernow.org.