International Day of Parliamentarianism

Today is the International Day of Parliamentarianism when we celebrate the founding of the Inter-Parliamentarian Union (IPU) and call on parliaments to be strong, transparent, accountable and representative.?Today I want to express my?support for the IPU campaign ?I Say Yes to Youth in Parliament! as, according to the?latest IPU data , only 2.6% of Members of Parliaments (MPs) in the world are under the age of 30 when more than half the world’s population is estimated to be under the age of 30.?Increased youth representation will lead to governments that better know and respond to the needs of young people, and to the use of innovation and new technologies.?We need ideas, support, and engagement of the world’s youth for a better future for all, especially with the increasing inequities brought about by disruptions to health, education, social protection and preventive services from the COVID-19 pandemic.?

Parliaments enact legislation, approve budgets and mobilize resources, provide oversight to ensure government accountability and transparency, encourage multisectoral action, ensure national implementation of global commitments, and foster the participation of constituencies in policy discourse. Today and every day, we need to work with members of parliaments around the world for the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents. Without them we cannot succeed.

PMNCH works closely with governments and national partners to share strategies, align objectives and resources, agree on interventions, and catalyse collective action to achieve universal access to comprehensive, high-quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health care.

At PMNCH, we are fortunate to have Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of the IPU on our Board of Directors, and together with the IPU, we published support parliamentary engagement in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health by supporting capacity building of parliamentarians around WCAH policies, laws and budgets.?In this vein we have jointly produced a Road map for action on women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health which can be used by parliamentarians to inform their potential actions in support of WCAH.

PMNCH also recently produced a COVID-19 toolkit for parliamentarians which provides access to key resources?to help prioritize and address challenges?and ensure visibility around women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being in debates and policies and within?response and?recovery?plans for COVID-19.

Lastly, we are continuously working to secure political commitments to the PMNCH COVID-19 Call to Action .?Our partners made announcements of more than USD 20 billion in commitments in December 2020, and at the Lives in the Balance: Equity in COVID-19 Response and Recovery event in May 2021, follow up actions were presented by partner governments and new country commitments were made. To learn more, visit COVIDCalltoAction.org.? ?