A/HRC/27/20
to support by-laws to engage men in maternal health issues. The districts came up with their
own action plans, and some innovations, such as pregnancy mapping and door-to-door
mobilization, as well as follow-up. Furthermore, the technical guidance is explicitly
mentioned in the Consolidated District Priority Interventions for Maternal and Newborn
Health 2014–2015.
46.
The technical guidance has also contributed to the strategic planning carried out by
donors. Staff at the Danish International Development Agency pointed out that the
technical guidance was helping in the formulation of the next cycle of support (for 2015 to
2020) for the health sector in one of the African countries where the Agency is active. For
example, the standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality that are
highlighted in the technical guidance, as well as in other human rights instruments, helped
the Agency to consider how its support could contribute to reducing discrimination and
strengthening broader accessibility to facilities, goods and services.
D.
Convening multi-stakeholder processes
47.
As a result of the collaboration between organizations in developing the technical
guidance, OHCHR, PMNCH, WHO and UNFPA are working together to strengthen the
application of rights-based approaches to maternal, newborn and child health, including to
related sexual and reproductive health issues. As part of this joint work, a regional
workshop was held in Lilongwe from 18 to 20 November 2013, bringing together
representatives of governments, national human rights institutions, United Nations country
teams and civil society, from four countries, namely Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and the
United Republic of Tanzania. The aim of the workshop was to build the capacity of
participants to assess their legal and policy environment, in order to integrate human rights
into laws, policies and programmes relating to maternal, sexual and reproductive health,
and newborn and child health, and to understand the implications for States in the areas of
planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, review and remedies.
48.
At the workshop, participants worked in country groups to identify specific action
points to follow up on in their countries; these were considered strategic opportunities for
applying rights-based approaches in the areas of maternal and child health. The action
points included efforts to integrate human rights into revisions of existing policies relating
to sexual and reproductive health, efforts to bring human rights analysis into the UNDAF
process, and providing human rights expertise to law reform processes. Following on from
this workshop, efforts are under way to produce situational assessments on human rights
and maternal and child health, including sexual and reproductive health, which can be used
as inputs into national planning and programming processes through multi-stakeholder
initiatives.
49.
In Mexico, OHCHR is involved in efforts to implement the technical guidance, in
close collaboration with the Committee for the Promotion of Safe Motherhood; these are
focused on the States of Jalisco and Oaxaca. In May 2014, a range of stakeholders gathered,
including from the Government, the legislature, human rights institutions, civil society
organizations and academia, to raise awareness about the technical guidance, with a view to
developing an implementation plan. The guidance was presented to the authorities and, as a
result, in Jalisco, an agreement has been reached to establish an intersectoral committee.
E.
Development of tools
50.
Since the adoption of the technical guidance in September 2012, numerous
stakeholders have pointed out the need for more detailed guidance. In response to these
13
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents