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Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, Co-chair of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Advocates Group, and Gra�a Machel, Chair of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), joined world leaders and the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn And Child Health (RMNCH) community to review progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals focused on women and children�s health, and to identify targets for healthy women and children for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. The high-level panel of the MDG Advocates�a group of eminent personalities working to focus attention on the need to deliver on the vision for the MDGs and to end poverty by 2030�met in Johannesburg at the 2014 PMNCH Partners� Forum, co-hosted by the Government of South Africa, PMNCH, Countdown to 2015, A Promise Renewed, and the independent Expert Review Group. The panel discussed several new reports released at the Forum, including the Countdown to 2015 report for 2014, which tracks progress in the 75 countries that account for the vast majority of maternal and child deaths, and the success factors for Women�s and Children�s Health report, which analyses 10 countries that have made rapid progress toward the MDGs. �Globally, we have made good progress on the MDGs,� said Prime Minister Solberg. �But more can and must be done. With fewer than 550 days until the MDGs deadline, time is of the essence to scale up our efforts on behalf of women, children and adolescents,� she added. New sustainable development agenda The leaders called for the new sustainable development agenda to be rights-based, equity-focused and to place healthy women, children and adolescents at its core. Leaders called for the new framework, which will be debated by the UN General Assembly in September, to focus on ending preventable maternal, newborn and child mortality, and to ensure sexual and reproductive rights, including universal access to quality sexual and reproductive services. Since 1990, both maternal and child mortality have halved and 50 million more children go to school each year, but many challenges remain and further rapid progress on health outcomes will require addressing the multiple determinants of health. For instance, every year, 14 million girls are forced into marriage, and in many countries women and girls still do not have access to adequate education. �Across the world, the rights of women and girls continue to be grossly violated. The burden of poverty on women is ever present,� said Gra�a Machel. �Every woman should have access to resources and gain space to assert her aspirations. Nobody should die in child birth. All girls should go to school with their brothers and master the tools for a productive life. � Partners� Forum Communiqu�, The panel also previewed the PMNCH Partners� Forum communiqu�, which will focus on working across sectors�including education, infrastructure, and economic development�to ensure a comprehensive, broad-based approach to improving women�s and children�s health. The communique, which was endorsed by the MDG Advocates, called for this comprehensive response to be enshrined in specific new global development goals. �We proved that Innovative Financing can help us to reach the MDGs,� said Philippe Douste-Blazy, United Nations Special Advisor on Innovative Financing for Development. �New partners are uniting in South Africa to commit energy and resources towards innovation and saving lives.� Dr Carole Presern the Executive Director of PMNCH, said: �Today, we leave with renewed energy to make sure that women, newborns, children and adolescents do not die from easily preventable causes; that sexual and reproductive health and rights are respected and that everyone, everywhere should be able to look forward to a healthy, happy and productive life.� Courtesy: Global Health Strategies