Photo: Allan Gichigi/IRIN

Sarah Boseley -The G20 summit at the end of this week must address the need for safe abortion if it is to bring down death rates in pregnancy, as the Canadian government has pledged - and it must deliver on its former pledge to keep people with HIV/Aids in Africa alive.

Never have the deaths of women in childbirth and the fate of their newborn babies been paid so much attention at so high a level. Hard on the heels of the Women Deliver conference in Washington two weeks ago, luminaries, movers and shakers from the UN, business, governments and civil society have assembled in London for the Pacific Health Summit, which has taken as this year’s theme maternal and newborn health. Conversations are going on among people in a position to make a difference - from the largest pharma companies in the world to major donors like USAID.

And the moment it ends, we are into the G20 summit, where the Canadian government has promised to make maternal and newborn health its legacy issue. It wants the world’s leading nations to sign up to a plan which includes better training for health workers, better nutrition for pregnant women, nursing mothers and their children, immunisation, clean water and sanitation.

Read full article by Sarah Boseley (Guardian UK)