MP presses Brown on development

John Battle MP (Lab, Leeds West) has asked the Prime Minister to ensure that greater efforts are made to improve maternal health across the world.

At Prime Minster’s Questions, Mr Battle asked Gordon Brown: “In international development, there are set millennium development goals. Unlike the goals for water and education, the goal for maternal health is revealed to be falling further and further behind. As a consistent champion of tackling poverty internationally, will my right hon. Friend ensure that poor women and mothers are no longer neglected in international development?”

Mr Brown replied: “I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. He has taken up the issues of development across Africa and Asia and has done so in a most eloquent way. It is true to say that one of the greatest tragedies which is avoidable is the number of mothers who die in childbirth. That happens to half a million mothers a year. That means that one mother is dying every minute, and in some countries, like Sierra Leone, one in every seven mothers dies in childbirth, compared with one in over 3,000 in countries like ours. Those are avoidable deaths, which harm the very children that are being born. It is therefore vital that we do more about it. That is why we are spending more on health care systems, why we are determined to help countries to reach development goals on maternal mortality, and why we have formed the International Health Partnership. I hope my right hon. Friend will agree that we are pushing forward other countries to do exactly as we are doing—that is, investing in maternal health.”

Mr Battle is a member of the International Development Select Committee.

John Battle MP 22 February 2008