Asa Torkelsson

Every day, every moment, a mother gives birth and a new life begins. However, around the world, poor quality and limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and information lead to tragic and preventable deaths and illness among women of childbearing age.

Twenty-five years ago, in 1994, representatives of 179 countries, along with civil society organisations and many other actors, came together in Cairo at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), sparking a radical shift in reproductive health.

International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC), is commemorated on October 11 every year, to highlight the challenges girls face, promote their empowerment and fulfil their human rights.

In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that July 11 be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. This year, on World Population Day, the United Nations Population Fund,

Today we celebrate International Day of the Midwife, this year on the theme “Midwives Leading the Way with Quality Care.” It resonates with the remarkable efforts and progress that Bangladesh has made in rolling out and accelerating the midwifery profession, thereby making a critical contribution to the health of women and newborns. In fact, in the past two decades, the maternal mortality rate has been reduced by more than 50 percent in Bangladesh.