Devex: Protecting the health of mothers when they need it most
Andris Piebalgs, E.U. commissioner for development

“… Improving maternal health is among the most challenging of the Millennium Development Goals and overall progress on reducing maternal mortality is slow. … Soon, the U.N. process will enter into intergovernmental negotiations. The E.U. and its member states are ready to continue to play a constructive and influential role in this, to make sure that we adopt an ambitious post-2015 development agenda in September 2015, negotiated in close dialogue with our international partners. Maternal health, which is part of the unfinished business of the MDGs, has an important place in this future agenda. Making sure that everybody can live in health will require equitable, universal, and quality health services that people can afford” (8/6).