Foreign Affairs committee  It's quite incredible when you go to some of these health clinics in some of the developing countries. Sometimes it's a little book that community health workers write the information in; sometimes there's nothing at all. And some of it is a little bit more sophisticated; they re

Foreign Affairs committee  I would like to say that the global polio eradication initiative is a great partnership with a number of players. WHO and UNICEF are key partners. The Gates Foundation is a strong contributor. It has been able to rally many people together. The Rotarians were a great example. The

Foreign Affairs committee  It was set up because we realized, as you mentioned, often there are a lot of cases of Canadians who have difficulty in dealing with this. This is a small unit that is trying to be a bit of a match. I'll turn to Rachael who is our expert in this area.

Foreign Affairs committee  Could we hear the answer from this side?

Foreign Affairs committee  The issue of civil registration and vital statistics, CRVS, is really critical. In the Commission on Information and Accountability that was co-chaired by President Kikwete of Tanzania and Prime Minister Harper, that was one of the key recommendations, and it was a bit forgotten

Foreign Affairs committee  Our programming works with community-based organizations and with developing countries. With developing countries, it helps them develop the systems in place, the child protection system, that will find those girls, help give them counselling, and help them adapt to the situation

Foreign Affairs committee  I just wanted to give you the context for how we've made our decision—

Foreign Affairs committee  In terms of family planning, we do support initiatives on family planning. We know that family planning helps reduce first pregnancies and helps to space pregnancies, but the Government of Canada has decided to not fund programs that directly support abortions.

Foreign Affairs committee  The funding we have for maternal, newborn, and child health has all been committed and disbursed as planned. I don't have the numbers for March, but in January we were at 97% of the disbursement for Muskoka. We are on track to fully disburse everything that had been committed in

Foreign Affairs committee  It is really appalling when we look at the statistics. We know that, globally, there are about 700 million women alive today who were married as children. According to the UNICEF report, “The State of the World’s Children”, there are 50 million girls who are married each year, an

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, Canada has been a leader in maternal, newborn, and child health. In our approach, we have decided to focus on areas that are evidence-based and have the greatest impact. Our work is focused mostly on strengthening the health system and making sure that we have enough health

Foreign Affairs committee  We agree with you on the importance of addressing children in humanitarian situations because often they are neglected. That's why Canada has been one of the first donors to support the No Lost Generation that is actually trying to protect and educate children because as you ment

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will start my presentation in French and then move to English. Good morning. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today about the protection of children in developing countries. Children are the future and our most precious resource. Yet the