Mr. Speaker, Canada made maternal and child health a priority at the G8 summit in Muskoka because we recognize that the loss of a mother has a critical impact on the health and well-being of her children. It starts in pregnancy and carries on well after birth. Mother and child must remain healthy for each to have a real chance of surviving and thriving in life.
Within its children and youth strategy, CIDA has focused one of its priorities on maternal and child health in order to ensure that mothers stay healthy during pregnancy and are able to properly care for their children once they are born. However, it is not enough to simply keep women healthy during and after pregnancy.
CIDA also recognizes that women should be able to determine the timing and spacing of their pregnancies, which has a direct impact on their health and well-being, as well as the outcome of pregnancies. For this reason, CIDA annually provides approximately $15 million to support programs, activities and commodities in the developing world.
We are not alone in pursuing such a program. In fact, increasing access to services is also an area of focus for the international organizations that CIDA supports, for example, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and World Vision. Our G8 initiative is necessary to ensure the long-term health of mothers and children, and the work we are doing in this area is translating into much progress for maternal and child health in the countries of focus.
In western Mali, for example, skilled health care workers now attend almost half of all deliveries thanks to the CIDA project; and approximately 733 health professionals have been trained to improve the health of mothers and newborns during childbirth through CIDA's support of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and its partner associations in Guatemala.
Beyond pregnancy, it is also critical that we work to give infants and young children a healthy start in life. Doing so greatly increases the likelihood that they will go to school as they grow up, contributing in a meaningful way to their communities. CIDA is fulfilling this objective by training and equipping front-line health care workers to deliver modern malaria treatments, bed nets, antibiotics for infections and other key health services for children and vulnerable groups.
Nutrition is also an important component of our efforts to keep mothers and children healthy. As a founding partner and principal donor of the micronutrient initiative, CIDA is helping to avert malnutrition by providing vitamin A, iodine and other micronutrients to mothers and young children.
Others in the world agree that maternal and child health needs to be a priority. During the G8 development ministers' meeting in Halifax last April, ministers were unanimous that improving the health of mothers and children should be the top priority of the agenda. There was similar agreement when it came to determining the scope of action required to address child and health issues.
In conclusion, Canada has made great strides and our $1.1 billion in new funding for maternal and child health will make a definite difference in the lives of the people in the developing world.