UN Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health

Results achieved by the World Health Organization with the support of the Government of Canada and other international donors as of the end of the project (September 2012) include: establishing a time-limited Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children's Health to determine the most effective international institutional arrangements to improve global reporting oversight and accountability on women’s and children’s health including through the UN system. The Commission which was co-chaired by President Kikwete of Tanzania and Prime Minister Harper and included 30 Commissioners met for the first time in January 2011 and published its final report in May 2011. The Commission report provided high-level guidance to partners to strengthen accountability for women's and children's health in five key areas by: (i) proposing a framework for global reporting oversight and accountability on women's and children's health; (ii) identifying a core set of health indicators for results and resources relating to women's and children's health; (iii) proposing actions to improve health information and registration of vital events such as births and deaths in low-income countries; (iv) proposing actions to improve tracking of resources and expenditures at global and country levels; and (v) exploring opportunities for innovation in information technology to improve access to reliable information on resources and outcomes. At the recommendation of the Commission an independent Expert Review Group was established and reports to the UN Secretary-General (every year until 2015) on the results and resources required to implement the UN Global Strategy for Women and Children's Health and the Commission’s recommendations.