A meeting to develop a roadmap and common strategy for accelerating and monitoring the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to maternal and newborn health will be held from 16 to 18 February in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The MDGs, adopted by the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000, set time-bound and measurable targets to be achieved by 2015 in eight key areas that are crucial to sustainable human development. One goal relates to improving maternal health, with the target to reduce by 75% the ratio of women dying in childbirth by 2015. Another, on child mortality, aims to reduce by two-thirds the mortality rate among children, also by 2015.

The six other MDGs relate to poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality empowerment of women, HIV AIDS, environmental sustainability and the development of a global partnership for development.

The Harare meeting will: define the current status of maternal and newborn health in the Region, identify constraints to the attainment of the MDGs related to maternal and newborn health, develop a common framework for maternal and newborn health programmes in countries and agree mechanisms for measuring progress.

The meeting, organized by the WHO Regional Office for Africa, will be attended by about 30 experts from various international organizations including UNICEF, USAID, the World Bank, Population Council- Southern and Eastern Africa, Advance Africa and the Regional Commonwealth Secretariat.

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