What more do we need to do to make the elimination of child undernutrition an urgent goal not just for child survival but also for national economic development?

On a recent trip to India, I joined a dozen mothers and their babies at a community meeting in a slum south of New Delhi. We sat on the floor and talk...

By Swapna Majumda, Women's eNews NEW DELHI, India (WOMENSENEWS)--The May 30 release of Madhuri Krishnaswamy, a relentless campaigner for better mat...

As a global community, our fates are often more intertwined than we like to imagine. Controlling malaria isn't only a prospect of preventing needless deaths, it is an economic imperative.

Next week, women and policymakers from around the world will gather in Malaysia to foment a revolution. Their call? Investment of a different kind, investment in girls and women for the sake not only of people, but also for the planet.

We've halved the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day, increased school enrollment and increased access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment worldwide. Yet the goal of achieving universal access to reproductive health (MDG 5a) has seen the smallest amount of progress.

Out of 650 million children worldwide of preschool age, only 164 million are actually enrolled. But in addition to ongoing problems with access, there is an increasing understanding that access alone won't solve our education crisis.

The reality is that your geographical location, your access to midwifery and obstetric care and who is available if there is a complication is all too often a determinant of whether a woman and her newborn will live or die. This is the geography of maternal and newborn health that continues to blight the lives of millions of women.

Our government's assistance to foreign countries is an easy target, susceptible to the budget knife, especially given misperceptions about its value and the fact that there is no natural domestic constituency advocating for it.

The world has seen great progress in getting children into school over the past decade. Yet 61 million children are still out of class -- that's 61 million too many.

Access to water is a central issue for slum dwellers around the world. Getting water is often a time-consuming endeavor that involves waiting in long lines and walking great distances. Water is often more expensive for the poor than for the wealthy, demanding a large portion of families' budgets.

As a professional conference go-er, the Global Education & Skills Forum reminded me very much of the World Economic Forum's Annual Summit in Davos for its professionalism, and high caliber of delegates.

It's typical to assume that managing public health challenges in the developing world is the primary responsibility of the public sector. And that's not wrong: a well-functioning public health system is fundamental to saving more lives and keeping more people healthy.

Ending death from diseases like malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhea is now possible and can be accomplished at little cost. Can the global community work together to reach the goal of reducing child mortality?