The Issue
Last year, people around the globe, including thousands in Canada, came together to demand action on a tragic reality: 8.1 million children and 358,000 women, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, are dying every year from entirely preventable causes. This has thrown the Millennium Development Goals for health seriously off track.

World Vision has seen this reality in our work alongside communities and we know that it is possible to save these lives, where there is a commitment to scale up proven, cost-effective health interventions. So we were thrilled when global momentum grew and world leaders committed to tackling this critical problem.

In a historic UN meeting in September 2010, developing county governments, donor governments like Canada, organizations like World Vision and the private sector pledged $40 billion dollars to the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health. Earlier that year, Canada played a critical role, by putting the health of mothers and children on the global agenda at the G8 with the Muskoka Initiative, which saw an initial $7.3 billion pledged by donor countries and foundations.

Yet, real change in the lives of women and children is not just about ‘more money’; it’s about spending that money well, knowing what is working and how to overcome roadblocks. To ensure that global promises lead to better health and lives saved amongst the world’s poorest, the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health was created. Canada is playing a major role as co-chair of the Commission along with Tanzania.

World Vision’s international CEO, Kevin Jenkins, is one of 25 Commissioners.

The Commission will:

Identify ways to better track how global resources are spent and what results are being achieved;
explore new ways for countries to improve systems to assess the health needs of their people, and plan and deliver health services – for example, through mobile technologies.

What World Vision is Doing
Through our participation in the Commission, World Vision is working to ensure that the final recommendations of the Commission lead to improved accountability, both upwards and downwards. ‘Upwards accountability’ means that governments, donors and other actors like the UN are transparently monitoring how money is spent and what results their investments are achieving. ‘Downwards accountability’ means that governments are involving citizens in the process of planning, monitoring and problem-solving around health services – so that health systems are meeting people’s needs.

World Vision is also leading a global effort to promote more transparent and accountable work amongst humanitarian organizations working for maternal, newborn and child health. We are committed to increasing the accountability of our own work overall, and in 2009 published our first Annual Accountability Report.

What You Can Do
Find out more about the Commission and Canada’s role.

Participate in the Commission’s online discussion forums.

Join World Vision’s Justice Network to get updates on the Commission’s work.

Read more about World Vision’s child and maternal health work.