Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

"Frankly, we've got to keep focused on what we agree on. We are not going to embark on something that's going to cause widespread division [helping to fund abortion]."
"These are the things [immunization/vaccination, nutrition] that make enormous differences in terms of survivability. We believe that's where efforts are most effective."
"It makes you realize that the relative problems we have in Canada ... in some ways pale in comparison to the issues of life and death we're dealing with here."
"By doing these things at very little cost, we are able to make a tremendous difference to the very building blocks of human life around the world."
"If we all in the developed world put aside our own worries and concerns from time to time and focus on something like this ... you will find that very rewarding."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Saving Every Woman Every Child summit, Toronto

"In my view it is not fair, not right for a woman to die while giving life to another human being. It's supposed to be an act of celebration and at the end of the day it turns out to be an act of mourning."
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Toronto summit

From left, Jakaya M. Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Queen Rania of Jordan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Melinda Gates, and Laureen Harper pose for a photograph with students after Harper after he pledged an additional $3.5 billion over five years toward the prime minister’s maternal, newborn and child health initiative in Toronto on Thursday, May 29, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

At the summit meeting that wrapped up in Toronto this week, a summit arranged by a Toronto-based aid group, the vast health gains to be achieved in the developing world was highlighted, using as an example a Canadian-developed vitamin capsule. The summit focused on what was originally called the Muskoka Summit when world leaders gathered to endorse Canada's initiative to fund and drive forward a maternal-infant health plan for emerging economies.

Prime Minister Harper was subject to both praise and criticism in Canada's role in this international project. Praise for committing billions in the initial plan promising $2.5-billion at the G8 summit in 2010, that took place in Muskoka, Ontario, and criticism because the federal government explicitly refused to permit any portion of that allocated sum for the kind of family planning that would include the option to abort during pregnancy.

The praise was warranted, and so was the criticism; to provide full options in maternal health outcomes, sometimes abortion becomes a necessity for various reasons. The plan, to reduce illness and death among mothers, newborns and other children by 2015, garnered support from other countries. Plan Canada chief executive Rosemary McCarney congratulated Mr. Harper for his additional pledge for Canada of an additional $3.5-billion over five years.

"The important thing will be to show everybody results, and that we are not just a bunch of people here looking for money", stated the Prime Minister, seconded by Mr. Kikwete. United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon mentioned that as a child growing up in South Korea, hospital or health clinics were uncommon, and women feared giving birth. "Today too many people live that reality around the world. We cannot accept it", he said.

Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Gates Foundation, promoting the importance of "reproductive rights", also hinted at criticism of Canada's refusal to fund abortions; the total initiative, however, has been proven to result in fewer maternal and infant deaths. The funding, stressed Rosemary McCarney, co-chair of the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, chief executive of Plan Canada, permits countries in need additional time to "get it right", post 2015.