Better information for better results
Better tracking of resources for women’s and children’s health
Better oversight of results and resources: nationally and globally
Mr Ronald Mc Callum
Chairperson, The Committee on
the Right of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD)
The University of Sydney
Sydney Law School
City Road, Room 605
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia
October 16, 2012
Dear Mr Mc Callum,
We are writing to you as members of the iERG, a 7-person body, created by the UN
Secretary-General's Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and
Children's Health. Our task is to serve as the principal global review group on accountability
for the Global Strategy on Women's and Children's Health, "Every Woman, Every Child".
A crucial aspect of our work is the accountability framework adopted by the
Commission. Our framework applies in countries and globally, and emphasizes human
rights principles, including equality and non-discrimination, transparency, and partnership.
The accountability framework has its origins in human rights bodies—namely, monitoring
(based on a small number of health status and coverage indicators), transparent and
participatory review, and remedy and action.
As stated in our mandate, we report to the UN Secretary-General, through WHO's
Director-General. We are tasked with producing annual reports on accountability for
women's and children's health, released in September (2012-2015) at the UN General
Assembly.
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Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health
Secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization
Room 3154, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Email: [email protected] Website: www.who.int/woman_child_accountability/ierg/¨
Better information for better results
Better tracking of resources for women’s and children’s health
Better oversight of results and resources: nationally and globally
The enclosed report, our first, was submitted to the UNSG on 26th September 2012.
It is a progress report on the UN Secretary-General's Every Woman, Every Child initiative,
together with our assessment of progress on the recommendations of the UN Commission on
Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. We make 6 specific
recommendations on improving accountability for women's and children's health,
recommendations that we believe, if implemented, could accelerate progress towards MDGs
4 and 5.
One of our recommendations is about strengthening human rights tools and
frameworks to achieve better health and accountability for women and children. In this
recommendation, in particular, we are calling the treaty bodies that interface with health—
the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination Against Women; the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination; the Committee on the Rights of the Child; and the Committee on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities—to routinely incorporate the health of women and children,
where appropriate, into their work. The goal must be to transform the role of women in
society, not only delivering health services that meet women’s and children’s expectations,
but also strengthening the autonomy of women in society as an important aspect of their
reproductive health.
By sharing this report with you, we are kindly asking you to review this
recommendation and advise us on how we, together, might take it forward.
We look forward very much to hearing from you. If you have any questions, our
Secretariat will be happy to provide you with necessary information and support.
Yours faithfully,
The Members of the iERG
Richard Horton (Co-Chair)
Joy Phumaphi (Co-Chair)
Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health
Secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization
Room 3154, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Email: [email protected] Website: www.who.int/woman_child_accountability/ierg/¨