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White Ribbon Alliance

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White Ribbon Alliance
Formation1999
TypeAdvocacy Coalition
HeadquartersWashington, D.C./London
Executive Director
Theresa Shaver
Website[1]

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) is a nonpartisan, non-profit and non-governmental membership organization that aims to decrease maternal and newborn death globally.[1]

Every minute somewhere in the world a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. Almost all can be prevented. The WRA is raising awareness of this shameful injustice – and demanding political priority to end the needless deaths of women and newborns around the world.


Mission Statement

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is a grassroots movement that builds alliances, strengthens capacity, influences policies, harnesses resources and inspires action to save the lives of women and newborns around the world.[2]


Overview

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) is an international coalition of individuals and organizations formed to promote increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women and newborns in developing, as well as, developed countries. Membership is free, and anyone can join by registering through the WRA website.[3] The WRA began in 1999 through the efforts of a group of individuals and organizations committed to raising awareness of the over 500,000 needless deaths each year due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. The WRA’s advocacy efforts grew from 1999 to 2009 into a global movement with thousands of individual and organization members in over 100 countries.


National Alliances

The WRA’s successful model centers on uniting stakeholders for safe motherhood through the support of national, regional, and global alliances. The Alliance members truly represent a “global community” comprised of local, national, and international NGOs, medical practitioners, community and faith based organizations, UN organizations, government representatives, academics, and individuals.

National Alliances are coalitions and partnerships in respective countries that develop a common platform of action at community, district, and national levels. Each National Alliance prioritizes its focus locally and has a local governance structure, but all share the common goal of improving access, quality, and utilization of maternal and newborn health services. National Alliances have successfully changed politics, increased funding allocation, and increased demand for services. Since 1999, the WRA has expanded to currently include 13 National Affiliates established in Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.[4]


Initiatives of the Global Secretariat

Mothers Day Every Day:[5] The Campaign for Healthy Moms and Newborns: A US-based campaign launched February 27 2009 and sponsored by The White Ribbon Alliance and CARE calling for greater U.S. leadership to accelerate progress toward safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth globally. Many influential leaders are members of the Mothers Day Every Day Advisory Committee such as co-chair Donna Shalala, former Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services; co-chair Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF; Maria Cino, President and CEO Republican National Convention 2008; and Mark R. Dybul, former United States Global AIDS Coordinator.


Million Mums:[6] This campaign launched on the 22nd of March 2009, Mother’s Day in the UK, to raise awareness about maternal death globally. The campaign has two simple aims: To sign up a million people and raise a million pounds to prevent women from dying in pregnancy and childbirth. The campaign has high profile support from Sarah Brown and from a host of celebrities including Davina McCall, The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Claudia Winkleman, Eve Pollard, Kirsty Young, Helena Christensen, Lauren Laverne, Mariella Frostrup, Meera Syal, Myleene Klass, Naomi Campbell, Bill Nighy, The Duchess also designed a special pin for the campaign available to the first 25,000 people that donate.


Global Maternal Mortality Campaign:[7] Stemming from the progress and commitments of 2008, the 2009 Global Maternal Mortality Campaign is maintaining momentum and maximizing delivery on the promises made towards safe motherhood on a global, national and community level. This campaign’s objectives are:

• Establish a major new innovative financing mechanism to fund health systems.
• 20 countries to have financed health plans in place by 2010, to meet the WHO recommended levels of 2.3 workers per 1,000 people by 2015.
• Appointment by the UN Secretary General of someone on Maternal Mortality.
• Appoint national champions to mobilize action at a national level.
• Agree on, and develop delivery plans for, a small number of high impact interventions (via the ongoing meetings amongst various groups and with regular circulated materials to all campaigning partners).
• Ensure maternal mortality is recognized as a key indicator of a functioning health system.


WRA Supporters

The tragedy of maternal death has attracted the attention of numerous prominent individuals around the world who have committed to speaking out for this cause. The WRA is supported by First Ladies, celebrities, and other influential individuals around the world including the WRA’s Global Patron Sarah Brown, wife of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the WRA's Global Ambassador, Naomi Campbell. Thousands of WRA supporters, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Thompson, Judi Dench and Claudia Schiffer, have added their name to an open letter[8] to global leaders asking them to make the necessary changes to save mothers' lives. Other WRA supporters include Queen Rania of Jordan; Bill Nighy; Christy Turlington Burns; Tammy Haddad; Sarah Ferguson; Wendi Murdoch; Star Thomas; Djata Ilebou; Emma Freud; Diana Quick; Anna Chancellor; The Sugababes; Maya Masai; Takuma Sato; and many more ambassadors in WRA National Alliances worldwide.


See Also

“Maternal Death”

“Maternal Health”


References

  1. ^ http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org
  2. ^ http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/
  3. ^ http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/members.cfm?a0=membership
  4. ^ http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/members.cfm?a0=alliances
  5. ^ http://www.mothersdayeveryday.org/
  6. ^ http://www.millionmums.org/
  7. ^ http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/GlobalMaternalMortality.cfm?a0=obj
  8. ^ http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/takeaction.cfm


http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org
http://www.mothersdayeveryday.org/
http://www.millionmums.org
http://www.twitter.com/WRAGLOBAL
http://www.myspace.com/whiteribbonalliance
http://www.youtube.com/whiteribbonalliance

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