When my Mission Director asked me to represent USAID at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (formerly known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)) third conference for health ministers, held in Astana last week, I was curious about USAID’s relationship with the OIC. It turns out that since early 2011, the U.S. Government, with USAID as a leading agency, has formed a partnership with the OIC to reduce maternal and newborn deaths globally and also in selected OIC member states, Mali and Bangladesh. USAID’s participation in the Third Islamic Conference of Ministers of Health was to showcase this partnership and help encourage further commitment to helping OIC member states reach the Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal and child deaths.
Young mothers benefit from new perinatal technologies. Photo credit: Dalia Jeckite
The Government of Kazakhstan, as the current chair of the OIC, was selected to host the Third Conference of Ministers of Health. I was thrilled to be able to represent USAID both for Washington headquarters and as a representative of the USAID/Central Asian Republics Regional Mission in Almaty. My speech presented USAID’s global strategy to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and also described USAID’s support to help Kazakhstan dramatically improve maternal and child health.
While USAID/Central Asian Republics is proud of our successes in Kazakhstan, maternal mortality has been in steady decline since the late 1990s, maternal and newborn mortality remain a serious concern in many parts of the world. Mahmoud Fathalla said it best years ago: “Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat… they are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.”
It’s clear that many affluent OIC countries possess the experience, resources, and even political will to assist the poorer countries that face tremendous challenges in reducing maternal and child deaths. I am hopeful that with U.S. Government and USAID support, the OIC can focus on channeling the energy generated by the conference to increase technical assistance, innovative approaches, and perhaps most importantly –resources – to help all OIC member states reach the Millennium Development Goals by the target date of 2015.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and has a membership of 57 states spread over four continents. According to the OIC website, the Organization is the “collective voice of the Muslim world and ensuring to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world.” The Ministers of Health meeting brought together representatives from countries as near as neighboring Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkey and as far away as Uganda, Senegal and Brunei.
