ZAMBIA: United Nations Population Fund's Goodwill Ambassador, British singer Geri Halliwell, arrives in Zambia where she appealed to African governments to improve maternal health care

United Nations Population Fund's Goodwill Ambassador, British singer Geri Halliwell, arrived in Zambia on Tuesday (November 14) where she appealed to African governments to improve maternal health care. Talking to the media on her arrival at the Lusaka International Airport, she said she was here to promote greater international awareness of the urgent need to reduce maternal deaths and halt the spread of HIV/AIDS. Both aims, she added, are contained in the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the world's leaders in September 2000. "We the UNFPA are here today in Zambia to remind governments to honour their commitment to improve maternal health care. I as a woman and as a mother feel passionate about empowering women and I would like to give the women of Zambia a voice - of hope. And reinforce that keeping our mothers healthy and strong benefits every nation. And Zambia can be a living example to the rest of the world that it does work and also there is room for improvement. -- It's a very good point. You know - why do children need adopting in the first place? And, basically, if we look at that - that's a symptom, all things are a symptom. If we look at the cause, if women didn't die in childbirth, you know that would improve the problem in the first place. So I think we would focus on that," she said. During the mission, Halliwell will visit projects supported by the Government of Zambia and UNFPA that address issues relating to maternal death and illness. She will also visit urban and rural health facilities around Lusaka. UNFPA supports Zambia in the fields of reproductive health and population and development strategies. The support includes training health workers and providing medical equipment and transportation. Skilled attendance at birth and quick transportation to maternal health facilities are among the most effective means of reducing death during pregnancy or childbirth. Halliwell was appointed UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in October 1998 to promote UNFPA's campaign on reproductive healthcare and the empowerment of women throughout the world. She went on a mission to the Philippines in 1999 to support access to health services, especially for young people.

ITN Source | November 15, 2006

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