Cambodia, 17 Dec 2009: The whole day workshop on Maternal Health was organized by the 8th commission of the National Assembly and the Cambodian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, CAPPD with funding support from UNFPA for the parliamentarians.
They were updated on the achievements, challenges and lessons learnt from the expertise of government institutions, civil society and development partners relevant to maternal and child health issues.
Cambodia is one of the signatories to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Millennium Development Goals for the well-being of Cambodian, especially women and girls. Parliamentarians were updated on the slow progress of achieving MDG 5 "Improved maternal health" and they recognized that skilled birth attendants need to be well deployed and retained in remote areas, for issues of maternal health to be well addressed.
At the workshop, HE Dr. Mam Bunheng, Minister for Health presented the achievements made so far and commitments to be carried out in the following years for the promotion of maternal and child health. The ministry is working on policies to benefit women and ensure better services to reach women in remote areas regardless of economic and social status.
The parliamentarians agreed to support the government's policies in reducing maternal death and promoting the status of midwives, especially in the remote areas. They will continue to play their prominent advocacy roles in the promotion of maternal health and listen to the concerns of their constituents
The updated information is useful for parliamentarians to prioritize and plan their work properly, especially when it comes to adopting the national budget.
At the end, the recommendations to carry forward their commitments in the following years were adopted. They appealed for funding support from development partners so that the needs of beneficiaries can be met.
