Canada must invest in maternal, child and newborn health worldwide
COVID-19 has exacerbated existing gaps in health care in low and middle income countries (LMICs), especially with regards to maternal, child and newborn health (MCNH).
Indeed the world is only as strong as its weakest health system.
Currently, health-care systems are overwhelmed with the lack of personnel and resources because of this COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, there is probable likelihood that the prevalence of other pre-existing illnesses in LMICs, such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhea and malaria, will increase.
With the disruption of routine health services such as the lack of family planning commodities and sexual and reproductive health education, the focus on MCNH has shifted due to this pandemic. MCNH groups are disproportionately affected, particularly in poorer countries.
Thus rates of teenage pregnancies and early, and forced marriage are at risk of rising because of the pandemic.
As a proportion of the economy, the current government’s record is the lowest in 50 years, continuing a two-decade downward trend across both Liberal and Conservative administrations.
With 265 million people being pushed to the brink of starvation, 290 million children missing school, 47 million women lacking access to contraception and 13 million child marriages taking place during the pandemic, Canada’s determined intervention is imperative.
Scaling up Canada’s official development assistance (ODA) is urgently needed to reposition the country in the international arena, support a just global recovery from the COVID pandemic and enable Canada’s own recovery.
ODA is a part of Canada’s investment in an equitable, more sustainable and safer world; one in which Canada and Canadians can prosper.
In 2015, Canada heralded a human rights-based Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) that focuses on the most marginalized, including women and girls, and aims to deliver fundamental social, political, economic and environmental transformations toward a better world.
The current pandemic requires Canada to ensure that its ODA levels match the ambitions of the FIAP, Agenda 2030, Paris Agreement on Climate Change and Canadian values for a more prosperous and just world for us all.
The ask overall: Canada must protect the health of women and children during the pandemic by investing $250 million over three years in the Global Financing Facility (GFF).
The ask for the audience to MP: Are you willing to contact your MP in order to write to the minister of finance in support of Canada investing $250 million over three years in the Global Financing Facility (GFF)?