Human Rights Council marks Maternal Mortality Resolution

GENEVA – More than 100 countries have submitted a joint statement inviting the High Commissioner on Human Rights take a report on maternal mortality to the MDG Summit in September. The report, presented to the Human Rights Council (HRC) in April, states unequivocally that maternal mortality is a human rights issue and that a human rights-based approach is key to addressing the problem. more

H.R.H. The Crown Princess of Denmark becomes patron of UNFPA to support women’s health

COPENHAGEN - H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has become Patron of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, to support the agency’s work to promote maternal health and safer motherhood in more than 150 developing nations. This work is a UNFPA key priority because women have about 1 in 7 lifetime risk of maternal death in a few developing countries; compared to 1 in 17,800 in Denmark, according to the latest published United Nations estimates. more

UNFPA addresses nursing students in Portugal

COIMBRA, Portugal – UNFPA has told an international health conference on violence in intimate relationships that violence can be reduced by addressing discrimination based on sex. “In emergencies and humanitarian crises, women, and especially young people, are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and coercion, unintended pregnancy, pregnancy‐related deaths and HIV infection and they typically lack access to essential reproductive health services,” said Maha Muna, UNFPA expert on gender-based violence. more