Assembly/AU/ 6 (X)I Page 12 On Policy matters participants called on all stakeholders to accelerate development/review of policy on maternal, neonatal and child health for the implementation of priority maternal, newborn and child programs. The most costeffective interventions are well known. “No woman should die giving life”. On increased and equitable financial access to maternal neonatal and child heath services they recommended the acceleration of internal resource mobilisation through risk pooling social insurance, community health funds, etc., in order to reduce the out-of-pocket payment and enhance sustainable financing for health within the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. They further called for urgent internal resource allocation to health in line with the Abuja Declaration. Regarding health system strengthening, the participants urged all concerned for the implementation of the most cost-effective interventions: o Development, retention, redeployment and management of skilled human resources (train for need). o Institutionalisation of mortality reviews (maternal, neonatal and child) for continuous quality improvement o Improvement of the Health Management and Information System for better operation and decision making. Finally the delegates invited Dr M. Tshabalala-Msimang, Honourable Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson the CAMH3, to be Africa’s Champion and Goodwill Ambassador for advocating the implementation of the recommendations of the “Africa’s Movement to Improve Maternal Health and Promote Child Survival and Development in Africa, beyond 2015” 6. The 2008 Countdown to 2015 Conference on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH), Cape Town, South Africa 17-19 April 2008 Just a day after the AU Continental Workshop in Johannesburg, the Global Countdown to 2015 Conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa on the same subject: maternal, newborn, and child health. The Conference opened a window of opportunities for the global community to put the issues of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) on the agenda of the highest-level of decision- and policymakers by releasing groundbreaking information on the latest state of the global progress towards MDGs 4 and 5. This event was an important milestone following a wave of recent international advocacy efforts to mobilize global commitment and actions in MNCH. Following thorough deliberations on the very closely interrelated issues of maternal, new born and child health, the ministers, parliamentarians and all participants at the Countdown to 2015 Conference reaffirmed their commitments to all previous internationally agreed instruments including the Delhi Declaration on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health of April 2005. They also expressed concern on the close to 10 million children and newborns dying every year from largely preventable diseases and conditions, and more than half a million women die annually from the complications of pregnancy and childbirth.