128th Session Agenda item 4.4
EB128.R1 19 January 2011
WHO’s role in the follow-up to the high-level plenary meeting of the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly on the review of the Millennium Development Goals (September 2010) The Executive Board, Having considered the report on health-related Millennium Development Goals;1 RECOMMENDS to the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly the adoption of the following resolution: The Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly, Recalling resolutions WHA63.15 and WHA61.18 on monitoring of the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals, and WHA63.24 on accelerated progress towards achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce child mortality: prevention and treatment of pneumonia; Expressing deep concern at the slow pace of progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on reducing child and maternal mortality; Acknowledging that much more needs to be done in achieving the Millennium Development Goals as progress has been uneven among regions and between and within countries; despite the fact that developing countries have made significant efforts; Recognizing the need to work towards greater transparency and accountability in international development cooperation, in both donor and developing countries, focusing on adequate and predictable financial resources as well as their improved quality and targeting; Welcoming the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health launched at the United Nations High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium
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Document EB128/7.
EB128.R1
Development Goals (New York, September 2010) and acknowledging the strong political and financial commitment by Member States to follow up and implement the strategy; Noting the United Nations Secretary-General’s request that WHO leads a process to determine the most effective international institutional arrangements for global reporting, oversight and accountability on women’s and children’s health, including through the United Nations system; Stressing that monitoring of resource flows and results are vital requirements for improving the accountability and responsiveness by governments and international development partners; Welcoming the establishment of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, which consists of high-level representatives; Noting that the objectives of the Commission are to: (1) determine international institutional arrangements for global reporting, oversight and accountability on women’s and children’s health. This accountability framework will encompass results and resources, and identify the roles of the different partners involved; (2) identify ways to improve monitoring of progress towards women’s and children’s health while minimizing the reporting burden on countries, including a set of core indicators, efficient investment in data generation and better data sharing; (3) propose actions to overcome major challenges to accountability at the country level, including strengthening of country capacity and addressing major data gaps such as the monitoring of vital events; (4) identify opportunities for innovation provided by information technology that will facilitate improved accountability for results and resources, and propose ways of ensuring these opportunities are harnessed to bring maximum benefits to countries; Stressing that aspects related to health equity and rights should also be addressed in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals; Stressing that the Commission should take into account relevant existing data collections and existing performance indicators; REQUESTS the Director-General: (1) to ensure the effective engagement of all key stakeholders in the work of the Commission; (2) to report to the Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly on progress on the work of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health in connection with the agenda item concerning the Millennium Development Goals.
Fifth meeting, 19 January 2011 EB128/SR/5 = = =