WUNRN
FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT: INVEST IN
WOMEN - IT PAYS
October
14th, 2011
By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver; originally
published in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers
Reference Report 2011
Improving maternal health gives a high return on investment. The loss of a
woman’s life or health is not just a loss to her family, but it is also a loss
to the community and the nation as a whole. While nations need to keep building
towards the ultimate goal of strengthening health systems, there are
investments that can be made today, right now, to decrease maternal death and
injury. Most of these solutions are low-cost, highly effective, and can begin
to show results almost immediately.
Even as the global economy continues to shake with uncertainty and fear of
further turmoil, we cannot afford to turn our backs on the poorest countries of
the world, where too many girls and women die each year from complications of
pregnancy and childbirth, and millions face permanent injury and disability.
And it frankly does not make economic sense. Women are the backbone of the
economy in developing countries. Improving maternal health – Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) 5 – is an investment that brings high returns.
Women are the backbone of the economy in developing countries.
More than 350,000 women die each year from complications of pregnancy and
childbirth. Most are preventable. In fact, 60 per cent of all maternal deaths
and 40 per cent of all infant deaths take place in the Commonwealth countries.
Women are economic drivers
The loss of a woman’s life or health is not just a loss to her family, but it
is also a loss to the community and the nation as a whole. When women die or
are injured from complications of pregnancy or child birth, family income,
nutrition, and stability decline; and her children, especially her daughters,
may be taken out of school to work or maintain the household. Under-investing
in women’s health and well-being comes at high and rising economic cost –
including intergenerational cycles of poor health and poverty. Pregnancy-related
deaths of women and newborns are estimated to cost the world at least US$15
billion in lost productivity every year (Background Paper for Women Deliver
Conference 2007, International Center for Research on Women). Many economists
believe that this estimate is still on the low side.
The World Bank calls investing in women ‘smart economics’ because of the
multiplier effect in improving other development outcomes, including those of
their children. Women drive the economy in developing countries in many ways:
• Women operate most small businesses and farms in developing countries.
• A woman’s income is more likely than a man’s to be spent on food, medicine,
education, and other family needs.
• In rural Africa it is women who carry two-thirds of all goods that are
transported – not trucks or planes. Women feed most of South-east Asia,
providing 90 per cent of the labour for rice cultivation (DFID, Maternal Health
Progress Report 2008).
• Women’s unpaid work – farming, managing their homes, caring for children and
other tasks – equals about one-third of the world’s GNP (ESCAP Workshop for
High Level Policy Makers 2000).
Pregnancy-related deaths of women and newborns were estimated to cost the
world at least US$15 billion in lost productivity every year.
We also know that reducing maternal mortality reduces maternal morbidity and
increases the ability of women to participate in the labour force, boosting
productivity and savings. Improvements in women’s health and conditions of
childbirth were the biggest factor in increasing married women’s labour force
participation in Europe and the United States in the mid-20th century
(Albanesi, S, Olivetti, C. 2009. Gender Roles and Medical Progress).
We cannot wait to act
Although these facts are well known, many believe that the solutions to
improving maternal health are expensive and require major investments on many
levels, including addressing the woefully inadequate supply of healthcare
workers in developing countries. The truth is that it may take decades to have
stronger health systems with appropriate infrastructure, particularly in remote
areas where facilities need to be built, equipped, and
It is no surprise that most national plans to improve maternal health are
often not fully funded, and are not fully implemented, or are delayed.
supplied with drugs; and where staff need to be recruited, trained, supervised
and retained. It is no surprise that most national plans to improve maternal
health are often not fully funded, and are not fully implemented, or are
delayed. In the meantime, women continue to die, and countries lose this
incredibly precious and productive resource.........
Link to Full 3-Page Text: http://www.womendeliver.org/assets/CFM_Sheffield_7.pdf