UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children

“We know what works…The answers lie in building our collective resolve to ensure universal access to essential health services and proven, life-saving interventions.”   United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

The Challenge

Each year, over 7.5 million children die before reaching their fifth birthday and nearly half a million women die during pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these deaths are caused by easily preventable and treatable conditions like diarrhea and pneumonia in children, hemorrhage during childbirth, and neonatal sepsis. Simple, affordable products such as antibiotics –  many of which cost less than $.50 per treatment – exist but are not reaching those most in need.

The Opportunity

The UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children was established to focus on 13 essential health commodities for women and children. Through its work, the Commission seeks to not only tackle treatable diseases but also to prevent 33 million unwanted pregnancies, protect 120 million children from pneumonia, and ultimately save a total of 16 million lives.

The Commission, co-chaired by the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, and President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, was established to advocate at the highest levels to build consensus around priority actions for achieving widespread access to these products. Commissioners included CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies, directors of major foundations, and leaders of development agencies.

Our Work

In 2012, R4D Market Dynamics Managing Director Kanika Bahl served as co-chair of the Market Shaping Working Group of the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children, with the R4D team shaping recommendations for this group.

  • In a meeting at the United Nations in May 2012, Commission members convened to finalize recommendations for urgent action based on input from the Market Shaping group and other technical work streams.
  • The finalized recommendations—to be presented by the Commission later this year—focus on scaling up access to new technologies; leveraging global market-shaping approaches used by leading actors such as GAVI and Global Fund; and developing innovative financing mechanisms to drive political will for product uptake.

Global & Regional Initiatives

R4D is a globally recognized leader for designing initiatives that connect implementers, experts and funders across countries to build knowledge and get that knowledge into practice.