The main objective of this public consultation is to identify third countries in which the state of IPR protection and enforcement gives rise to the highest level of concern and to update the list of the so called “priority countries”. The public consultation will be one of the tools used to help improve the IPR systems in third countries, including plant variety rights. It will help the European Commission focus its efforts and resources on the priority countries and on the specific areas of concern, with the aim of improving IPR protection and enforcement worldwide.
The results of this public consultation will also enable rightholders to gain awareness of potential risks to their IP when engaging in business activities in the priority countries and thus allow them to design business strategies and operations to protect their IP rights.
All interested CPVO stakeholders have until 16 November to provide their comments and observations by taking part in this public consultation in either English, French or German.
“The Church-Family of God in Africa and the surrounding islands joyfully welcomes the new encyclical of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti (FT) on human fraternity and social friendship, published on 4 October 2020, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. It is a call on human beings everywhere in the world for a renewed commitment to universal brotherhood, friendship, solidarity and peaceful co-existence,” said Cardinal Ouédraogo, this week.
The Cardinal said the encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, demonstrates beyond doubt that the current coronavirus pandemic is a reminder that “no one can face life in isolation” and that the world is actually “a single human family.”
“Already in his second encyclical, Laudato sì, the Holy Father, Pope Francis had demonstrated our interconnectedness to embrace the Earth, our Mother and Sister,” recalled the Cardinal. He added, “St. John Paul II had earlier said: It is in building the communion of love that the Church appears as a sacrament; as the sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the human race,” the Cardinal said.
Our divided world needs all efforts that bring us together
“We join the Holy Father to earnestly plead for intensified efforts towards true brotherhood, solidarity, dialogue, mutual acceptance, trust and support, which are crucial values for our current world visibly divided along cultural, religious, social, political and ideological lines or principles. Genuine brotherhood is an appropriate response to the challenges posed by Covid-19,” emphasised the SECAM President.
Cardinal Ouédraogo further reiterated Pope Francis’ message that, “time has come to break totally with personal interests and cultural barriers, fixed ideological beliefs, religious persecution and radicalised religion; to end terrorism everywhere in the world, and to work assiduously for religious freedom.”
An African Church that is genuinely a family
“For us in Africa and Madagascar, the Encyclical further reminds us of the need to intensify efforts towards building up the Church as Family, avoiding all ethnocentrism and excessive particularism, trying instead to encourage reconciliation and true communion between different ethnic groups, favouring solidarity and the sharing of personnel and resources among the particular Churches, without undue ethnic considerations,” said the Cardinal.
Africa will respond positively to Fratelli Tutti
In Africa and surrounding Islands, the spirit of Fratelli Tutti will be concretised, said the Cardinal, not merely by words, but by selfless deeds and noble conduct on the part of all human beings. This, he said, demands responsible leadership, within and outside the Church. Such leadership is one that serves the common good and places the dignity and welfare of every human being at the centre, said Cardinal Ouédraogo.
The Cardinal continued: “We call on all the peoples of Africa and the surrounding Islands, especially, Christians, not only to study the encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, diligently but also respond to it positively in family, cultural, religious, political, social and business circles,” he said.
SECAM stands for Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. It is an association of all Catholic Bishops in Africa. SECAM’s secretariat is in Accra, Ghana.
The Bank will increase the financing provided at the beginning of last year to €67.5 million.
The funds will support the company’s modernisation plans and the construction of the Process Innovation and Scaling Centre.
Both loan agreements are backed by an EFSI guarantee under the Investment Plan for Europe
On 28 September 2020, PCC Rokita SA signed an annex to the loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB), under which the Bank has granted the company additional financing for €22.5 million, increasing the loan granted to PCC Rokita at the beginning of last year from €45 million to €67.5 million.
The funds obtained from the financing will support the company in the implementation of investments of a total estimated value of €110.5 million. These include the further expansion and modernisation of chemical plants, such as the pilot plant for the development of polyols and the pilot plant for the production of phosphates and phosphites. They also include investments related to the expansion and optimisation of electrolysis production and the propylene oxide plant, the construction of the Process Innovation and Scaling Centre, and other investments aimed at adapting the existing infrastructure to the increased scale of operations.
Teresa Czerwińska, EIB Vice-President who oversees operations in Poland, said: “The EIB as an institution has been consistently supporting projects with great potential for achieving EU policy goals, both in terms of economic development and employment growth. PCC Rokita is a trustworthy partner for us, and is valued as a reliable beneficiary of funds obtained as part of financing. This additional loan is intended to support the company at a time when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are most severely hitting the economy. The EIB intends to help PCC Rokita invest in innovation and low-carbon technologies and increase the company’s competitiveness when the economy recovers.”
Wiesław Klimkowski, President of the Management Board of PCC Rokita, said: “The increase in EIB financing is a recognition of its positive assessment of the company’s financial and economic situation. It is worth recalling that the EIB supports innovative projects that are not only environmentally friendly, but that also create prospects for long-term growth and new jobs.”
Rafał Zdon, Vice-President of the Management Board, said: “An important element of our financing structure is the loan granted by the EIB at the beginning of 2019.Considering the currently available sources of financing and the further development of the Company, we decided to expand our cooperation with the European Investment Bank. This cooperation is long-standing and the EIB is a stable financial partner.”
Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, said: “Thanks to the Investment Plan for Europe, the EIB will build on its successful cooperation with Polish chemical company PCC Rokita. The additional funding will help the company to continue shifting its production towards renewable and low-emission materials and expanding its innovation and development activities. In short, yet another European investment that is good for the climate and good for jobs.”
The annex does not result in other significant changes to the loan agreement with the EIB, which – under the original provisions – contains a number of obligations, such as maintaining the level of financial indices specified in the agreement, as well as limitations regarding the payment of dividends. Both loan agreements benefit from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe (the Juncker Plan).
PCC Rokita is the parent company of a Capital Group comprising several companies operating mainly in the chemical and service industries.
Emeritus Professor of Sociology of Religion Bryan R Wilson, in an opinion originally published in 1999, analyzes systematically the religious customs and principles of Scientology. This study is now published as a book in German “Das System Scientology: Eine Analyse und ein Vergleich ihrer religiösen Systeme und Lehren”. It has been done in memoriam by FoRB.PRESS to commemorate the date of his departure (9 Oct 2004), he confronts and compares them against those of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christian Science, Judaism, and Catholic as well as Protestant forms of Christianity. His analysis is based on the academic and field studies he conducted over 30 years starting in 1968, which included interviews with Scientologists and visits to churches in England.
His conclusion was that over time there have been different definitions of religion and that nowadays, considering the modern world, and based on its theology, customs, and community structures, Scientology would clearly be considered a “bona fide religion” comparable to the great religions of the world according to up to 20 different ingredients that can be found in all the mentioned religions.
Bryan R. Wilson
Who was Dr. Bryan Wilson?
A frequent participant in CESNUR [the Center for Studies on New Religions] conferences and initiatives, Wilson will also be remembered as one of the most prominent academic champions of freedom of religion or belief in the 20th century. He defended new religious movements and other minorities against the various waves of international anti-cult campaigns, for no other personal reason than his passionate love for freedom and justice, since he defined himself as an atheist.
Although even some of his closest friends would have preferred that he would have not picked up such a controversial fight, he argued with particular strength, both in academic and legal settings, that an effective defense of religious liberty needed a definition of religion large enough to include non-theistic religions and movements offering religious services on a quid pro quo contribution basis, and that such definition should perforce include the Church of Scientology.
Even his opponents had to admire the clarity and the elegance of his arguments on this topic; many regarded them as persuasive. Bryan Wilson passed away on 9.oct.2004 and FORB Press in memoriam published the book “Das System Scientology: Eine Analyse und ein Vergleich ihrer religiösen Systeme und Lehren” [The Scientology System: An Analysis and Comparison of Its Religious Systems and Teachings].
Sen. Kamala Harris invoked her faith during the vice presidential debate to insist that Judge Amy Coney Barrett would be treated fairly on account of her faith during her upcoming confirmation hearings.
“Joe Biden and I are both people of faith and it’s insulting to suggest that we would knock anyone for their faith,” Harris told Vice President Mike Pence.
Her comments came after the vice president lamented Democrats who have raised questions about Barrett’s Catholicism.
“We particularly hope that we don’t see the kind of attacks on her Christian faith that we saw before,” Pence said, referring to questions about Barrett’s faith that arose during her appointment to a circuit court.
Harris was raised in a Hindi and Christian household. Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is Jewish. Biden is Catholic, and Harris boasted that he would be the second Catholic president to take office.
Barrett, Trump’s nominee to the open Supreme Court seat, faced scrutiny over her faith by Democrats in 2017 when she was appointed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Why is it that so many of us on this side have this very uncomfortable feeling that dogma and law are two different things, and I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. The law is totally different,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told Barrett, a Notre Dame law professor. “And I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you. And that’s of concern.”
Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow at The Catholic Association, accused Harris of being the “ringleader of anti-Catholic bullying,” pointing to Harris’ treatment alongside Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, of U.S. District Court nominee Brian Buescher. The pair questioned whether he was fit for the seat because he is a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charitable organization.
Harris, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked the Nebraska lawyer whether he knew Knights of Columbus “opposed a woman’s right to choose” and were against “marriage equality” when he chose to become a part of the organization.
Buescher responded that his involvement in the group consisted mostly of charitable work and community events at his local Catholic parish. He indicated he would abide by judicial precedent regarding abortion.
Researchers from the United Kingdom studied the association between religious affiliation and risk of deaths due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in England and Wales. Their study titled, “Religious affiliation and the risk of COVID 19 related mortality; a retrospective analysis of variation in pre and post lockdown risk by religious group in England and Wales,” was published in the pre-publication site medRxiv*.
Researchers led by Charlotte Hannah Gaughan from the Office for National Statistics, Newport, UK, write that there have been several socioeconomic and behavioral factors that have been associated with the risk of deaths due to COVID-19 caused by SARS CoV2. Some of these factors have been associated with lockdowns that have prevented people from gathering. They wrote that “religious gatherings had been linked with the spread of COVID,” and they tried to understand the variations in the risk of COVID 19 related deaths among religious groups in the UK both before and after the lockdowns.
Religious gatherings and COVID-19
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed concerns that religious practices and gatherings can “contribute to the spread of COVID 19”. The authors write that transmission risk is raised with “communal religious prayers and large attendance at religious gatherings and festivals” that raise the chance of community transmission. The authors write, “several studies have shown that outbreaks worldwide have been traced to centers of worship and religious ceremonies.”
Hazard ratios for COVID 19 related mortality for religious groups compared to Christians, stratified by sex.
UK stance on religious gatherings and lockdown and this study
In the UK, law mandated the prohibition of religious gatherings on 23 March 2020 to prevent community spread of COVID-1. The authors of this study aimed to see if the risk of COVID-19 mortality was different in England and Wales before and after such lockdown measures.
The authors write that around 67 percent of the UK population identify with a religion, and this does not corroborate with participation in religious practice. They noted, “75% of Sikhs attend regular practices while only 29% of Christians do”.
Smoothed Schoenfeld residuals from age adjusted Cox regression models for Jewish males and females Time at risk starts on 2 March 2020. b(t) represents the estimated time-varying model coefficient (the natural logarithm of the hazard ratio)
Study design
The team used the 2011 Census of England and Wales and the death registrations to look for age-adjusted risk of dying with COVID 19 for each religious group. They also gathered the socio-demographic information on the deaths as well as the risks for occupational exposure to the disease.
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This was a retrospective cohort study, including 48,422,583 individuals from the 2011 Census. Death certificates were used to detect the risk of deaths among individuals. To assess the association between the two, they used Cox regression models. They calculated the hazard ratios (HR) pre and post lockdown period. There were a total of 36,726 COVID deaths, they noted. A total of nine religious groups were identified, “No religion, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Any other religion, or Religion not stated.” Follow-up time was from 2 March 2020 to 15 May 2020.
Pre and post lockdown, age adjusted hazard ratios of COVID 19 related mortality for religious groups compared to Christians, stratified by sex.
Findings and results
Results of the study showed a distinct association between religious affiliation and the risk of mortality due to COVID-19. Overall findings were:
The average age of the participants was 47 years
Compared to Christians, all other religious groups had a raised risk of death due to COVID-19.
The risk of deaths was lowest among those who practiced no religion before and after the lockdown. The authors wrote, “For both males and females, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists experienced greater age-adjusted rates of COVID 19 related mortality than Christians”.
Risks of deaths were more significant for males than females
Muslim and Jewish males had the highest Hazard ratio of death due to COVID-19 when adjusted for age. The HR was 2.5 (95 percent confidence interval 2.3-2.7) and 2.1 (95 percent CI 1.9-2.5), respectively.
HR for Muslim and Jewish females was 1.9 (95% CI 1.7-2.1) and 1.5 (95% CI 1.7-2.1), respectively.
The HR for Buddhist males (1.0) and females (0.8) was reduced as was for Hindu males (1.3) and females (1.3).
The team found that the risk of deaths was lower for some groups such as “Sikhs, female Buddhists, and those of any other religion, no religion, or unknown religious affiliation,” when compared to Christians when all factors were adjusted.
The researchers wrote, “For all non-Christian groups, the national lockdown was associated with reduced mortality risk compared with the Christian group.”
Conclusions and implications
The researchers concluded that “Jews remained at a higher risk of death (due to COVID-19) compared to all other groups”. They wrote, “Lockdown measures were associated with reduced differences in COVID 19 mortality rates between religious groups,” and called for further research to look at the efficacy of prohibition of religious gatherings in reducing the risk of COVID-19 related deaths.
*Important Notice
medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Journal reference:
Religious affiliation and the risk of COVID 19 related mortality; a retrospective analysis of variation in pre and post lockdown risk by religious group in England and Wales. Charlotte Gaughan, Daniel Ayoubkhani, Vahe Nafilyan, Peter Goldblatt, Chris White, Karen Tingay, Neil Bannister medRxiv 2020.10.01.20204495; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.01.20204495
Deputy of the European Parliament Charlie Weimers has called on Europe to impose sanctions against President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and exclude Turkey from the OSCE Minsk Group for its aggression unleashed against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).
“This is the aggressive war of Azerbaijan’s dictator Aliyev with the support of Erdogan’s jihadist allies, and the aim is to impose the unfair decision of Stalin by which Nagorno-Karabakh was split from Armenia. Impose sanctions against aggressor Aliyev. Exclude Turkey from the OSCE Minsk Group. Have the courage to not identify the suffering people of Artsakh with the belligerent Aliyev,” the politician said, citing Andrei Sakharov’s following comment: “For Azerbaijan, this is a pretension, for the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh — a matter of life or death.”
Brett G. Scharffs, BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies director, speaks at the Law and Religion Symposium on Oct. 4. (BYU Law)
The BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies broadcasted the 27th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium from Oct. 4-6.
The theme of the symposium was Religious Freedom: Rights and Responsibilities. Sessions of the symposium were broadcast online, unlike previous years when speakers and students gathered on campus. Translation of the symposium was provided in five languages.
Center director Brett G. Scharffs started the event with an online presentation. He noted that the center celebrates 20 years since its founding this year.
“The crown jewel of everything we do is our students,” Scharffs said. “Perhaps our greatest regret in not being able to gather in person this year is that you who are participating with us online will not have an opportunity to meet these students.”
President Henry B. Eyring, the second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke in the Sunday afternoon plenary session. He introduced the topic of religious freedom.
“We have a deep commitment to the brotherhood and sisterhood of all and feel an obligation as followers of Jesus Christ to serve and bless those in all countries, regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof. In the spirit of our Master, who went about doing good, we seek to help lift the burdens of those in need, in any faith, throughout the world,” President Eyring said.
In the beginning session, Secretary General of Religions for Peace International Azza Karam spoke on the responsibility to speak in behalf of those who have lost their freedom of religion.
“Religious communities are persecuted today more than ever before. This is the time to be able to speak for your brother and your sister in the other part of the world whose right to thought, whose right to conscience, whose right to belief is being actively taken away. This is the time to speak out,” Karam said.
Elizabeth Clark, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, Viva Bartkus, Sharon Eubank and Suzanne Akhras Sahloul speak during the Tuesday plenary session. (BYU Law)
Addressing the audience from Nigeria, Ayodele Atsenuwa was part of the Monday breakout session panel. Atsenuwa is a professor of public law and dean of the faculty of law at the University of Lagos, and the director of the West African Regional Centre for Law and Religion Studies. Some of her insights dealt with the effect COVID-19 has had on religion, as many religious groups have been restricted from their places of worship.
“What people initially thought were limitations of fundamental freedoms, over time they came to accept that it wasn’t a government clamp down on religious freedom, but it was just an exigency,” Atsenuwa said.
Sharon Eubank, president of Latter-day Saint Charities and first counselor in the Relief Society presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shared stories on her involvement providing humanitarian relief after natural disasters. Religious groups worldwide have joined together to serve affected communities. Their tolerance of other beliefs have allowed for occasions to worship together.
“Our principle of, ‘People deserve to express their faith safely and securely, whatever it is,’ allows for those kinds of opportunities,” Sister Eubank said.
Among other speakers during the three day event were Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; and Suzanne Akhras Sahloul, founder and executive director of the Syrian Community Network.
In regard to minority and majority religions, speakers shared thoughts on how to help all religions feel welcome to worship wherever they are located.
Faizan Mustafa, vice chancellor of NALSAR University of Law in India shared his experiences. He said there is no harm in giving religious freedom to all groups because it will benefit everyone.
“If we do not give this freedom to them, people will feel suffocated and they will not have harmony and peace in the society,” Mustafa said. He went on to discuss that if India, being a multi-religious society is to survive, “we must celebrate our diversity.”
That goes along with Barrett’s failure in 2017 and again this year to disclose that she had signed on to a newspaper ad in 2006 taking the most extreme position on abortion possible, advocating for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and going further, saying she opposed “abortion on demand” and defended “the right to life from fertilization to the end of natural life.” That’s leaving the door open for banning types of birth control and for investigation and potential prosecution of women who’ve had miscarriages, the furthest forced birth extremists tend to go. Of course she doesn’t want that information in front of the Judiciary Committee or the American public, which supports abortion rights.
So who’s covering it up for her? Is the White House advising her to withhold information? Is the Republican-majority Senate Judiciary Committee staff helping her pick and choose the information senators and the American public get to weigh when considering the nomination? Because it sure seems like a concerted effort, and the kind of thing that raises eyebrows for investigators. What else might she be failing to disclose—and why? This should at least require more time for a more thorough investigation and Democrats should demand that. It’s not about her religion: It’s about why she is trying to cover up her religion!
Clearly the investigation into Brett Kavanaugh wasn’t thorough enough because McConnell and Sen. Chuck Grassley, who was then chair of the committee, wouldn’t let it be. They didn’t give enough time. That means there are still outstanding questions about Kavanaugh, and big ones. Like who paid his $92,000 country club fees, his $10,500-a-year private school for his kids, his $60,000 to $200,000 credit card debt, and his $1.2 million mortgage before his confirmation hearings. Which is a question for another time and potentially an impeachment investigation when there’s a Democratic-controlled Senate. Potentially.
But on this nominee, there needs to be an investigation. The FBI needs to figure out why there was a coordinated effort to cover this information up, why the People of Praise group has been erasing her from existence in their organization, and what else she could be withholding from the committee. It’s not about the organization itself: It’s about the effort to prevent the Senate and public from knowing. She, and the Republicans, demean the process by hiding things.
There are already serious questions about her fitness to serve. First and foremost, Barrett accepted the nomination in the first place, in these extraordinary circumstances and mere weeks before a presidential election. Then she participated willingly and knowingly in what turned out to be a coronavirus superspreader event that violated the rules the District of Columbia has in place for public gatherings. Yes, the White House is federal land and not governed by D.C.’s ordinances, but it shows an appalling lack of judgement on the part of this would-be justice to participate in the whole fiasco.
But there are also questions about her actual ability to judge. She actually authored a Seventh Circuit opinion last year “that threatened to hurl corporate insurance policies into chaos” and was quickly and quietly withdrawn to allow the lower court judgement she had initially overturned stand. It was an “episode that stunned attorneys and raised questions about her judgment.” Because she made an extremely basic and big mistake. She ignored state law, in this case Indiana’s, in her initial ruling. “Her opinion, absolutely, 100 percent, ignored Indiana law with respect to how those things would be decided,” one lawyer involved said. “It was the only time in my career where I had to file a brief that raised this point.”
It’s a given, even among conservatives, that Barrett got this nomination not for her legal qualifications but because of her ideological ones. That’s not even debatable in 2020, after the Trump administration and the kinds of judges—even those rated unqualified—he’s promoted. What’s remarkable is the extent to which Republicans are still committed to covering up her background. That’s a problem, and one that gives Democrats absolutely every reason to fight this nomination. Not on religious grounds: on the cover up.
The first-ever joint global estimates also point out that stillbirths remain a challenge for high income countries, where a mother’s level of education is one of the greatest drivers of inequity, and ethnic minorities may lack access to sufficient quality health care.
“Losing a child at birth or during pregnancy is a devastating tragedy for a family, one that is often endured quietly, yet all too frequently, around the world”, lamented UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
A majority of stillbirths could have been prevented — UNICEF chief
And the report attests that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely lead a further rise.
A pandemic-induced 50 per cent reduction in health services, could cause nearly 200,000 additional stillbirths over a 12-month period in 117 low and middle income countries, according to modeling done for the report by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Muhammad Ali Pate, Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank, and Director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents, spelled out: “COVID-19 has triggered a devastating secondary health crisis for women, children and adolescents due to disruptions in life-saving health services”.
Poor quality of pregnancy and delivery care; a lack of antenatal and intrapartum services and weak nursing and midwifery workforces are responsible for most of these occurrences, says A Neglected Tragedy.
“Beyond the loss of life, the psychological and financial costs for women, families and societies are severe and long lasting”, Ms. Fore affirmed, adding that “a majority of stillbirths could have been prevented with high quality monitoring, proper antenatal care and a skilled birth attendant”.
Socioeconomic link
But even before the pandemic, few women in low and middle income countries received timely, high-quality care to prevent stillbirths, the report shows – with coverage ranging from less than two per cent to a high of only 50 per cent in eight important maternal health interventions, including C-sections, malaria prevention and pregnancy hypertension management.
“Welcoming a baby into the world should be a time of great joy, but everyday thousands of parents experience unbearable sadness because their babies are still born”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Sound investment needed
Despite advances in health services from 2000 to 2019, the annual stillbirth reduction rate was just 2.3 per cent, compared to a 2.9 per cent reduction in neonatal mortality, and 4.3 per cent in mortality among children aged one to 59 months, according to the report.
However, the study maintains that with sound policy, programmes and investment, progress is possible.
“The tragedy of stillbirth shows how vital it is to reinforce and maintain essential health services, and how critical it is to increase investment in nurses and midwives”, the WHO chief upheld.
Because pregnant women need continued access to quality care, throughout their pregnancy and during childbirth, Dr. Pate stressed, “we are supporting countries in strengthening their health systems to prevent stillbirths and ensure that every pregnant woman can access quality health care services”.
