SG: Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen of the media.

I am pleased to be joined by President [Jakaya] Kikwete of Tanzania, Prime Minister [Jens] Stoltenberg of Norway, Vice-President Boediono of Indonesia, Minister [Beverly J.] Oda [of Canada], and Doctor [Margaret] Chan of WHO {World Health Organization).

We are here because too many women die around the world from pregnancy or childbirth-related injuries. We are here because one preventable maternal death is still too many. Hundreds of thousands of deaths are a disgrace, a disgrace we need not tolerate.

And we are here for another reason, as well. We know women are the drivers of progress. In the poorest societies of the world, it is women who care for the children. They grow the crops, hold societies together. Women deliver - and not just babies. And if we deliver for women, we can change the world for the better.

Yet of all the MDGs –Millennium Development Goals - maternal health has advanced the least, and it is a key to all the rest. That is why, today, we are putting women's and children's health front and centre in the push to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

We are here to issue a call to action. We must do more. Everyone here today will do more. And we will call on others to join us.

Healthy mothers raise healthy children. Healthy children grow up stronger and better educated and help build more prosperous societies. And a health system that delivers for mothers and children will deliver for the whole community.

We need to start thinking, today, about how to advance these goals in order to create a better tomorrow. That means a qualified midwife and access to emergency care. This alone would reduce maternal deaths by about three-quarters. It means finding new ways of building and financing better health care systems around the world, especially in the poorest countries. It means coming up with new ways to engage communities, governments and international institutions, as UN partners, working as one. It means bringing the newest technologies to even the most remote places. We need to be able to be able to track progress, determine what works and what does not, and deliver sustainable and effective programmes.

The coming months are critical. We must set the stage for decisive and concerted action at the September MDG summit meeting in New York. We know this is possible. Look what we have done together to fight HIV/AIDS and to put the world on a path to ending deaths from malaria by 2015.

This is something we can do. And this is something we must do. Millions of lives are at stake.

Thank you very much.

Q: Prime Minister Stoltenberg mentioned the Lancet report, which shows that there has been a 35 percent drop in maternal mortality within the last 28 years or so, but at the same time the WHO global alliance in its partnership for maternal, newborn and child health shows a discrepancy in these numbers, saying that progress has lagged. I was wondering what numbers the UN is now working with, that the WHO is now working with, how you can account for the discrepancy in those reports? And also, how much money are you looking to raise this week in the conference?

SG: As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I have always been working very hard to mobilize the necessary funding. I know that in the middle of the financial crisis worldwide, Member States find it sometimes difficult, in providing necessary funding. As we are going to have a summit meeting in September for the Millennium Development Goals, what we are aiming is that, first of all, we will take stock of the progress during the last ten years, and we will try to have an action-oriented plan. How much more funding will be needed, that is what Member States will have to go through a negotiation process from now.

I have submitted my report to the General Assembly, entitled “Keeping the Promise”. On the basis of my report, the Member States, I expect, will go on with a negotiation process; what kind of action plans they will have. Then on the basis of these action plans, I think we may have a better idea of how much we may ask Member States for funding, including this maternal and children mortality rate.

At this time, what I can tell you is that we will try to minimize the additional requests for the funding. We will focus more and emphasize more on delivering the already-committed funding. We have many pledges, starting from Monterrey, Doha, L'Aquila and all G-8, G-20 [meetings] and Gleneagles, most importantly. All these commitments have not been fully delivered. Therefore the existing commitments first and foremost must be delivered to facilitate, to help us, to make us make progress on all MDGs. This is one thing I can tell you.

In addition to what Dr. Chan said, it is all the better that we have these encouraging reports. If there are any discrepancies of the United Nations statistics, from what you will see tomorrow from other institutions like the Lancet, that means that we are making progress. We may not be able to have the exact 100 percent correct estimates or statistics. Our target is to reduce the number of mortality rates. I think we are moving in the right direction. Basically, our estimate is always based on good scientific findings. So we always rely on scientific recommendations and findings.

Q: It is a follow up on this Lancet question, to zero in, the editor of the Lancet, Richard Horton, has been quoted as saying that pressure was brought to bear on him to not publish these positive statistics until after this meeting and other meetings, and he said there seems to be an analysis saying that if the news is too good, it is harder to raise money. And obviously money should be raised. So I am just wondering whether the Secretary-General is aware of any of the UN agencies or partners putting this type of pressure on the Lancet.

SG: Let me answer your first question. First of all, I am not aware of any such pressure to withhold such a report. That is, I can tell you, purely speculation, or rumour. Everyone at this meeting is a firm believer in science, and we welcome the new report. All will examine to see if it can help in our fight against preventable maternal death. I am glad that this Lancet report was released. We welcome it; the more information, the better. That will only help, and facilitate our work to achieve the Millennium Goals, MDG 4 and 5. Any signs of progress show that we are on the right track. Therefore, I think there should not be any misunderstandings on that particular question.

Q: Perhaps the Secretary-General can provide additional explanation. First, it is about how the Indonesian Government is going to deal with things that Prime Minister Stoltenberg has been reiterating about the cost needs –more money and more financial support. How will Indonesia develop its action plan in dealing with these costs? How will Indonesia provide more incentive to the private sector, if the private sector is going to be the one included in this cost?

SG: For your second part, addressed to me, I think I have already answered, on how we should help developing countries in getting necessary funding. We will have a plan of action, a very concrete action-oriented plan, and based on that we will have an opportunity of addressing this issue to the Member States.

[On incentive to the private sector] That is why we are having all these meetings, with the participation of many representatives of business groups, the private sector. In all of our activities, meeting the targets of the Millennium Development Goals, the participation of the private sector, NGOs, take very important elements. The President of the General Assembly is going to convene the General Assembly in June to invite the private sector and NGOs and we encourage many NGOs and private sector to have many side events during the Millennium Development Goals. This is a part of our ongoing efforts to have full support from the private sector.