The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP
Secretrary of State for International Development
Department for International Development
1 Palace Street
London SW1E 5HE

13 July 2010

Dear Andrew,

Millennium Development Goals

I am writing to urge you to ensure that children and maternal health are top priority at September's UN Millennium Development Goals meeting in New York.

The summit is an important opportunity to review progress to date and ensure that much more is done to save women's and children's lives. As I am sure you know 1000 women will die today and every day because of complications in pregnancy and childbirth. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable, and yet world leaders are failing to tackle the problem.

Specifically I would encourage you to:

- Provide long-term support to poorer country governments to help them increase access to free public health care;

- Increase funding to train midwives and other health workers, and ensure they are supported with well-equipped facilities and medicines for emergency care;

- Ensure that the UK's aid spending on maternal health projects strongly and demonstrably promotes women's rights.

It is also the case that many of the previous commitments made on tackling child poverty during the 2000 and 2005 UN Summits have not been fulfilled. The global economic crisis must not be used as an excuse to fail the most vulnerable and we must take action now to deliver a fairer future for the world's children.

Please take a clear message to the summit - that maternal health and women's rights, alongside securing a better deal for the world's children, must be a top priority for development spending.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the Department's reply