Deliver Now for Women and Children

Deliver Now draws upon partnership and the participation of prominent personnel to communicate the fact that health services related to children's and women's health are available for all - with prompt access and without discrimination.

For example, the New York City (in New York, the United States) launch took place amidst rallies in Manhattan and the Bronx; awareness-raising events across the city to build popular support for the drive throughout the week. The launch was scheduled to coincide with the convening of a panel at the United Nations, "Saving 77 Million Lives", featuring female UN leaders and global health activists discussing the critical issues facing women and children around the world. The launch was followed by other global events, such as the conference Women Deliver in London, the United Kingdom (UK), and the roll-out of local programmes in individual countries. As part of this process, Deliver Now is bringing together local government agencies, civil society, media, and other national and international members of the initiative; the results of these programmes will be monitored as part of an effort to ensure success and accountability. For instance, Deliver Now is working with local organisations to implement a programme to build political will to ensure delivery of services and raise awareness in the Indian states of Orissa and Rajasthan. Similarly, in Tanzania, Deliver Now plans to draw upon advocacy to deliver services and raise awareness in the Tanzanian districts of Geita, Monduli, Sumbawanga, Morogoro, and Babati.

A number of celebrities, such as Nicole Kidman, Ricki Lake, and Liya Kebede, are participating in and supporting the Deliver Now initiative. Visitors to the Deliver Now website may view a public service announcement (PSA) featuring Chaka Khan. There, too, they may sign a global promise to pledge that "I believe no one should ever lose a mother, a wife or a child when simple, proven, life-saving solutions exist."

Children, Women, Health.

Here are some statistics, provided by Deliver Now:

• Every year, over 10 million mothers and children die from "mostly preventable causes".
• Every 3 seconds, a child under the age of 5 dies.
• Four million newborns die in their first four weeks of life, 3 million of those in the first week.
• Forty-two percent of pregnant women around the world experiencing a complication, up to 15% of which are life-threatening.
• Twenty percent of the world's births are in India, but 25% of the world's child deaths and 20% of the world's maternal deaths occur there as well.
• Tanzania 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."