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Keeping Our Promise To Every Woman, Every Child

With fewer than 850 days left until the MDG target date, every day counts for the millions of women and children who are relying on us to keep our promise to them. We cannot let them down.
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Each of us has felt the sting of a broken promise, most likely in our early childhood. The lesson leaves a lasting impression, teaching us that when we make a promise, we must honor it.

The 2010 launch of Every Woman, Every Child by the United Nations sparked a series of promises to accelerate progress against Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4, 5 and 6, which aim to save the lives of 16 million women and children by the end of 2015. More than 250 entities -- governments, United Nations agencies, NGOs, foundations, academic institutions, health care associations and private sector companies -- have come together to address the most pressing causes of maternal and child mortality.

Progress is being made, but not fast enough. The world is beginning to recognize that if we do not redouble our efforts now, we will fail to honor our collective promise to the 16 million women and children who are counting on us. A UNICEF report issued just last week confirms that at the current rate of progress, MDG 4 -- reducing by two-thirds the mortality rate in children under 5 -- would not be achieved until 2028.

Building on a long history of work in maternal and child health, Johnson & Johnson became one of the first companies to announce a five-year commitment to Every Woman, Every Child in September 2010. We set a goal of reaching 120 million women and children by 2015, focusing our efforts in four areas: making childbirth safer for mothers and babies; treating and preventing intestinal worms in children; using mobile phones to share critical health information; and devoting research and development to develop medicines to treat HIV, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases.

The enthusiasm with which our senior leaders and colleagues have rallied to honor this commitment is inspiring. We have expanded existing partnerships and established new ones, mobilized resources, and developed better systems for tracking and evaluating results. At the midpoint of our MDG commitment, we can report significant progress in each of the four commitment areas. Through hundreds of partnerships around the world, we have reached an estimated 61 million women and children since 2010, working in 54 of the 75 MDG priority countries. This progress is a testament to the tireless effort, collaboration and unmatched expertise of the many partners with whom we are working to achieve these results. Our partners succeed because of their strong community ties, ensuring that programs have the intended outcomes because they are tailored to address local needs, challenges and customs.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that every time a girl or woman dies in childbirth, or every time a newborn is unable to take his first breath of life, family members experience an unfathomable loss that impacts the rest of their lives. And for each mother who survives childbirth and delivers a healthy newborn, a family rejoices and is much more likely to thrive.

The MDGs are the world's promises to individuals, to families, and to communities in resource-constrained settings that need our collective support. In the end, these promises are kept one person at a time.

With fewer than 850 days left until the MDG target date, every day counts for the millions of women and children who are relying on us to keep our promise to them. We cannot let them down.

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This blog is part of a month-long series in partnership with Johnson & Johnson to highlight the successes and remaining opportunities in the Every Woman Every Child movement. With the aim of improving the lives of women and child around the world, EWEC was launched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2010 to accelerate progress against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To learn more, click here.

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