Monday, June 28, 2010

Bono offers measured praise for PM's maternal health plan

TORONTO -  U2 frontman and anti-poverty advocate Bono has called Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s maternal health plan “a start” on a big job that needs more urgent work at the highest political levels.
In a statement released Sunday, Bono, who co-founded the ONE organization, urged world leaders to do more when they meet at the United Nations in the fall.
“Prime Minister Harper’s plan for the G8 on maternal mortality is not everything that’s needed to tackle the moral affront of millions of mothers dying in childbirth, but it is a start on a job that world leaders need to finish when they gather at the UN in September for a special session on the Millennium Development Goals,” he said.
“The MDGs are far off pace in Africa, but the millions of activists around the world who campaigned for them won’t be easily discouraged. Neither should the world leaders whose nations signed on.” Bono noted that U.S. President Barack Obama has promised to deliver a concrete global action plan at the UN that will make the MDGs a reality.
“The MDGs must stay at the heart of the G8, G20 and UN until leaders agree to a concrete plan to get them back on track. Time is ticking away,” he said.
source:www.torontosun.com

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