‘Women, girls’ empowerment crucial for achieving SDGs’
The empowerment of women and girls is crucial for achieving the global 2030 agenda for sustainable development, the UN Secretary-General Adviser on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Dr David Nabarro, has stated.
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He said women and girls were the target of some of the goals and for others they were part of the solution.
The 17 goals and 169 targets approved by the United Nations (UN) fall among five themes which are: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
Every Woman, Every child
In an interview with the Daily Graphic at the Women Deliver 2016, conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dr Nabarro noted that women could not participate fully in society when they did not have access to health services to help them manage maternity health or the health of their children.
“That’s why the UN Secretary- General launched the Every Woman, Every Child initiative, a global movement that mobilises and intensifies international and national action by governments, multilaterals, the private sector and civil society to address the major health challenges facing women, children and adolescents.”
Without strong political support issues like these do not receive adequate attention, he indicated, adding that “in Ghana, we see a strong effort to prioritise women and children’s health”.
Innovations
Dr Nabarro also noted the increasing demonstration of commitment by the private sector to the health of women and children.
“This commitment is demonstrated by the various innovative inventions by businesses specially designed to enhance healthcare delivery for women and girls.”
For instance, he added, Philips makes equipment for monitoring health of children and others are also exploring the use of solar-powered health-saving devices.
According to him, the UN is working with businesses to commit to values of the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and abide by principles that have to be adopted relating to their operations.
This relationship has helped to get businesses to get cost down, so that inventions are not expensive and therefore out of the reach of women and children.
Furthermore, they had shown commitment to low-cost and long-lasting products and continued to work to improve their inventions as well as build-in training and maintenance, and teaching people how to modify their inventions, Dr Nabarro added.