Assembly/AU/ 6 (X)I Page 15 8. Additional Advocacy Efforts on the Promotion of Maternal, Newborn, and Child health at international fora Continuing its advocacy and sensitization campaign, as per the various Assembly Decisions, the AU Commission has pressed the issue of promoting maternal, neonatal and child health at international level such as o The Africa-India Summit in April 2008, held in New Delhi; o The 4th Tokyo International Conference on Africa’s Development (TICAD IV) in May 2008; and o The G8 Summit in July 2008, both held in Japan. Efforts are also under way and will continue in the future to use relevant subregional, continental, and international fora to step up advocacy, sensitization and mobilization activities. IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It is often reported that Africa as a region tends to lag behind in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in the areas of maternal, newborn and child health. However, there are inter-regional and inter-country differences in progresses both in the health and other development sectors. Moreover, despite the challenges faced in achieving the MDGs, voices from African countries indicate that Goals and their specific targets could be reached through collective and complementary efforts given that countries, international development partners, grassroots organizations, and all stakeholders keep their commitments. It has also been observed that a considerable degree of political momentum exists in Africa which favors the implementation of instruments agreed at subregional, continental and international levels and that it is desirable to maintain this momentum in order to ensure sustainable socioeconomic development, including health for all in Africa by strengthening health systems, training, recruitment, and retention of health workers, and mainstreaming health in general and maternal, newborn and child health in particular, in all development undertakings. There should be a major shift in thinking at the level of policy-decision makers from considering health as an area of expenditure to an important sector of investment which pays off in the short, medium and long-term. The international community has also recognized the importance of the health sector in its entirety and is trying to address some of the challenges faced by the continent. This trend is encouraging and needs to continue in a concerted manner. Based on the foregoing observations in this report, it is therefore recommended as follows: i. The leadership role of the AU needs to intensify and should continue to put maternal, newborn and child health top on the continental agenda;