In these turbulent times of financial crisis, rising food prices, climate change and political instability, it is women and girls who will be disproportionately affected, particularly poor women in poor countries.
It is girls who will be removed from school because families can no longer afford to pay for them; it is women who will go without food so the family can eat; it is women and girls who be denied health care because it is not affordable.
Women are drivers of development – yet the poorest women pay the highest price with their health, well-being and ultimately their lives, particularly in a time of financial crisis.
Investing in women’s health is an investment in their wellbeing, their family’s wellbeing and their community; yet again this year over half a million women and girls will die unnecessarily in pregnancy and childbirth, tens of millions more will suffer illness, injury and disability.
The World Bank states that investment in family planning can reduce maternal mortality by 40 per cent. Likewise, meeting the unmet need for family planning will reduce maternal morbidity and the burden of disease and illness caused by sexual and reproductive ill-health.
Health is a human right and cornerstone of social and economic development. No one should die or suffer from preventable causes for lack of basic health services.
Yet support for population and reproductive health programmes has significantly declined as a percentage of overall health aid, from about 30 per cent in 1994, to just 12 per cent in 2008.
This global crisis further threatens much of the progress made towards improving the health of poor women in poor countries during those years.
Yet even current levels of investment in sexual and reproductive health from national and donor governments are threatened by the current crisis.
Girls count and women matter, yet too often they are overlooked. Now is the time to increase our efforts, not decrease them, otherwise the escalation in poverty and the impact on both present and future generations will be dramatic.
Source: Conversations for a better world