March 23, 2012

United Nations spotlights life-saving commodities to accelerate Millennium Development Goals

(ANAHEIM, CA) Today the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched a landmark Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children, elevating the importance of essential medicines and technologies to save millions of lives and realize the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The Commission, co-Chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, will amplify the United Nation’s (UN’s) Every Woman, Every Child movement and dramatically improve access to critically important, yet under-used commodities for women’s and children’s health. 

In the UN’s official press release, President Jonathan called for immediate action stating, “There is no doubt that lives can be saved by increasing access to affordable and effective medicines and health supplies. We must all make a difference and the time is now.” 

The Commission will focus its efforts on elevating the importance of several high-impact commodities to address the primary causes of child and maternal deaths, with a particular emphasis on scalability, affordability and supply security.  Misoprostol is among those health solutions being considered to accelerate a reduction in maternal deaths due to postpartum hemorrhage.

To read the UN’s press release, click here.