Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Every conversation, every meeting, and every event for the next four days essentially ends with one crucial question: How do we make the world a better place for women and girls? Which in reality means a better world - for all.

Thank you for joining this important session, that takes that ‘How’ to the spheres of innovation and scalability.  And ‘How’ using new and holistic solutions together with untraditional partnerships can save the lives of mothers and babies.

Every year, over 300.000 women die from pregnancy related causes globally and over five million babies die during birth or within the first weeks of their lives.  90% of the existing maternal and newborn deaths can be prevented, with access to skilled birth attendance.

I recently visited Burkina Faso one of the poorest countries in the world and ranks as one of the countries with the highest rate of inequality. 

In Burkina Faso 1 in 48 women die during pregnancy or while giving birth and although this statistic represents progress – primarily due to improved access to skilled birth attendance - there is still a way to go to reach the global goal.  

Here, there exists a strong will to strengthen that progress and reach that goal – a country like Burkina Faso needs innovative-scalable and cost-effective solutions that are proven to work.

It is a tragedy and incomprehensible, that it should cost life to give life.  And it is unacceptable, because we know what to do and there exists effective solutions, which can prevent the majority of these deaths.

Maternal mortality is a global problem.  It is a key indicator of the status (or lack thereof), of women in a society and reflects the level of inequality that exists. 

Therefore, I am very pleased that the topic of today’s discussion is how to bring sustainable innovations out of the pipeline and into the hands of as many health workers and mothers as possible. One thing is for sure: It takes partnerships between sectors, continents and countries to leverage the full potential of health innovations.

In a few moments, we will see and hear about tangible solutions that can help save lives.

We will learn about: 

• A partnership between local engineers and maternity ward clinicians in Kenya
• An innovation marketplace that brings together innovators and investors
• An app that teaches health workers how to handle birth complications
• A wind-up fetal doppler to measure babies' heart rate
• A new model for accelerating the implementation of innovations
• And much more.

We need these game-changing solutions if we are to change the statistics that tell the tragic story of too many pregnant and birthing women in developing countries:

So today - and for the next four days - let's focus on solutions. Let's focus on what works and how to catalyse effective rollout of what works across countries.

Let's make sure that the solutions reach as many health workers, women and babies as possible.

Let's work together.