World Health Day (7 April 2025)
Statement by WHO HRP
Message from Pascale Allotey, Director, Department of SRH and HRP
At the beginning of April, I attended the 58th session of the Commission on Population and Development, with a focus this year on “Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages” (SDG3). The first day (April 7) coincided with World Health Day and the launch of our Maternal Mortality Estimates report which highlights some progress, but also the critical ongoing need to accelerate efforts towards preventable maternal deaths.
The CPD58 meeting this year failed to achieve consensus on an outcome document, which unfortunately means progress on sexual and reproductive health and rights in this important space seems to be limping rather than leaping along. Despite this, I met with members of civil society, expert colleagues and even some of our wonderful Policy and Coordination Committee (PCC). I had the opportunity of delivering a statement on behalf of WHO at the UN Secretariat and was able to represent HRP and our work at side events taking place.
We are excited to host as many of you as are able to come later this month to our PCC. For those who can’t join in person, we look forward to welcoming you some time soon and to have you join a series of webinars which we will be outlining soon.
I wish you all a season of hopeful renewal and new possibilities.