MPs Gather to Improve Accountability for Maternal and Child Health © IPU

MPs from nine countries are to meet in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to discuss ways to make parliament more accountable for improving women’s and children’s health. The IPU seminar, organised with the Bangladesh Parliament and the World Health Organization (WHO), involves MPs from countries with high maternal and child mortality rates which are also part of a WHO programme to strengthen accountability.

They include Bangladesh, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. According to WHO, millions of women and children die unnecessarily across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Three women die every five minutes due to complications in pregnancy or childbirth. In the same time period, 70 children die, nearly 30 of them in the first month of life. Almost all of these deaths can be prevented.

In April last year, parliaments committed themselves to improving the well-being of women and children in a resolution made at IPU’s 126th Assembly. During the two-day seminar from 30-31 July, MPs will be invited to share processes and methods to promote parliament’s accountability in ensuring a healthy future for women and children.

(Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union)