KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is to host a meeting in May next year that will provide valuable discussion for the United Nations to formulate the post-2015 development framework, especially in making the health and well-being of girls and women a top priority, a women's organization announced on Wednesday. “This will be undertaken at the 3rd Global Conference of Women Deliver, to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center here from May 28 to 30 next year,” said Vanitha Gowda, Senior Director, Advocacy and Communications of Women Deliver. Women Deliver is a New York-based global advocacy organization bringing together voices from around the world to call for action to improve the health and well-being of girls and women. To be held for the first time in Asia after the inaugural conference in London in 2007 and the second in Washington in 2010, next year's conference is expected to be the biggest yet in terms of attendance, with an estimated 5,000 participants from around the world, said Vanitha. She said next year's conference was expected to take stock of why the Millennium Development Goal Five (MDG5), which called for universal access to reproductive health to allow women to plan the number and spacing of their pregnancies, was not reached. Vanitha said research showed that currently 222 million women around the world still have an “unmet need” for modern contraception. “Women Deliver 2013 will explore how the global community can continue to address and decrease this “unmet need” and to ensure that women around the world have safe, healthy and wanted pregnancies,” she stressed. Vanitha said reducing the “unmet need” for contraception and looking to 2015 and beyond were the two overarching themes of Women Deliver 2013. The other is “Investing in Girls and Women”, which stresses the significant benefits for communities and nations when investments are made in the health, education, empowerment and rights of girls and women. “Healthy girls are more likely to attend school, have safe pregnancies and deliveries, and to grow up to have healthy educated children. They are also powerful drivers of development, contributing up to one-third of global GDP. Simply put, when girls and women survive, families, communities and countries thrive,” she said. Vanitha said keynote speakers and top-notch participants were being finalized, adding that the conference would feature heads of state, ministers, parliamentarians, policy-makers, health professionals, academics, corporate leaders, youths and advocates to look into a whole range of issues, including strengthening national and local health systems and access to effective and affordable medicines during pregnancies. She said Women Deliver would also sponsor 1,000 young participants out of 7,000 applicants from all over the world to attend the 2013 conference based on their keenness to help overcome barriers and find solutions related to the improved health and well-being of girls and women. Raj Karim, the Asian director for Women Deliver, said the conference would be a good opportunity for Malaysia to showcase its experiences and skills in maternal health and family planning. She said Women Deliver would also explore ways to facilitate local health workers such as midwives and nurses as well as young people to attend the conference at concessionary rates.
