Every Woman Every Child’s Second Decade
Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) was launched in 2010 by former UN Secretary-General H.E. Ban Ki-moon to catalyze a political movement to advance the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents everywhere. Since then, EWEC has been dedicated to the central, transformative promises of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its goals (SDGs): eradicating poverty in all its forms, ending discrimination and exclusion, and reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities to ensure that no one will be left behind.
In its second decade, EWEC is firmly aligned with the SDG 3 Global Action Plan (GAP) and the Resident Coordinator System. EWEC builds on the progress in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) and accelerates action against the 2030 targets of the Global Strategy. EWEC now integrates more tightly with the broader Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) country-level action health for all delivery efforts in order to fast-track country-level implementation within the Decade of Action.
Thank you for a decade of placing women, children and adolescents at the heart of sustainable development
The world has achieved significant gains in maternal, newborn and child health and well-being since the launch of Every Woman Every Child a decade ago.
- More than 1 billion children were vaccinated
- Maternal deaths declined by 35% since 2000, with the most significant declines occurring from 2010
- 85% of pregnant women living with HIV have received effective treatment for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus, up from 45% in 2010
- Under-5 deaths reached an all-time recorded low, with 122 countries already achieving the SDG goals for under-5 mortality
- Coverage of immunization, and skilled birth attendance and access to safe drinking water reached over 80%
- 25 million child marriages have been prevented since 2010
- More than 1 billion children have been vaccinated
These important advances would not have been as successful – or perhaps not attained
at all – in the absence of dedicated, focused work through the Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) movement, including its landmark Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.
Over the past decade, EWEC has worked with governments, the private sector, foundations, INGOs and civil society to secure 776 commitments over 10 years, including financial commitments worth a cumulative total of nearly US$186 billion.
The progress that EWEC has helped usher, and the work that has been done, would not be possible without the large body of global help and support. Thank you to donors, partners and the greater global health community for a decade of placing women, children and adolescents at the heart of sustainable development.
Every Woman Every Child will head into its second decade with an even stronger mandate to achieve its goal of “a world in which every woman, child and adolescent in every setting realizes their rights to physical and mental health and well-being, has social and economic opportunities, and is able to participate fully in shaping sustainable and prosperous societies.”