President Cyril Ramaphosa met with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH) and reaffirmed his commitment to the betterment of South Africa’s women, adolescents, and children.
The PMNCH is a major organisation whose mission is to ensure the health and well-being of vulnerable populations by collaborating with governments and about 1,300 partner organisations.
On Thursday, the President met with PMNCH Board Chair (Rt.) Helen Clark.
“I was impressed with the way the PMNCH sought to elicit our commitments for our people first because indeed charity begins at home.
“I hope that as Head of State, I can build confidence in our ability to positively impact these vulnerable population groups by sharing the models being implemented across the Republic of South Africa, exchanging best practices, and mobilising other champions to galvanise greater action, thereby elicit lasting commitments for real change in the lived experience of our women, adolescents and children,” President Ramaphosa said.
Clark praised the President’s determination to reversing the health and well-being declines endured by women, children, and adolescents, which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and other problems.
“We are deeply honoured that President Ramaphosa has agreed to support this critical agenda as we need urgent and transformative action to reverse these worrying trends. This will help drive the much-needed political will behind issues that impact on outcomes for women, children and adolescents.
“At PMNCH, we are committed to working alongside the President to position this agenda so that action is taken to get back on track towards achievement of SDG 3 [Sustainable Development Goal 3]. At this time when compounding crises are rolling back previous progress made on women’s empowerment and the health of communities,” she said.
The United Nations’ SDG 3 is geared at ensuring “healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”.
According to the Presidency, President Ramaphosa and Clark had an in-depth conversation on the SDG 3 goals.
“The President and Clark explored opportunities to undertake high-level political advocacy and strategic interventions to amass political, financial, and programmatic commitments from all sectors of society, including the private sector, critical to delivering on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“This includes the SDG 3 targets for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, especially in the face of the toxic combination of COVID-19, escalating gender based violence, economic instability, the climate crisis and conflicts,” the Presidency said.