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Fax: (020) 7820 3131
Email: information@spuc.org.uk
2012 International Conference on abortion & maternal health
Abortion or maternal health: What should the UK be funding in developing countries?
International day conference, Regent Hall London, March 20th 2012 9.30am-5.30pm
Each year an estimated 350,000 mothers die from pregnancy related causes. This is a tragedy that must come to an end. The 2015 deadline for achieving millennium development goal 5 (maternal health) is fast approaching, yet mothers are still dying. What is happening, and how can you and I help bring it to an end?
Join us on 20th March 2012 for an international day conference in London that will address the UK's policy on maternal health and mortality in the developing world. This conference is especially for overseas development campaigners, members of the medical and legal professions, human rights activists, and people concerned with women’s rights. We will be proposing alternatives to current policy and practice that will save the lives of mothers and babies.
A detailed briefing and presentation are available to prepare participants for the conference and future educational and lobbying efforts.
Internationally renowned experts speaking on the day include legal expert Dr. Roger Kiska of Alliance Defence Fund, consultant obstetrician gynaecologist Dr. Obi Ideh from Nigeria, and maternal health campaigner Mrs. Fiorella Nash. Our headline speaker is world renowned Professor Robert Walley.
- Dr. Robert Walley - “Charter of Rights for Mothers: the Marshall plan for maternal health”
- Dr. Roger Kiska - "The Question of Abortion as 'Right' in International Law"?
- Dr Obilumani Ideh - "Maternal Mortality: Chairos vs Chronos"
- Mrs. Fiorella Nash - "Abortion, Maternal Health and Public Policy"
Entrance to this important conference can be purchased online via our website shop or by filling in and returning a booking form. Tickets cost £55 or £35. Lunch can be added for £10.
Official flyer for the conference
Downloadable booking form
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Professor Robert Walley is the founder and executive director of MaterCare International, is an emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of England, and has a Masters degree in International Health from Harvard University.
Dr. Walley has a particular concern about the levels of maternal mortality and morbidity (obstetric fistula) and has been working in West Africa since 1981. From 1989 - 1996 he directed a maternal health and obstetric fistula project in Nigeria, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and recipient of favorable peer reviews. In 1995, Dr. Walley initiated the formation of MaterCare International (MCI) to breathe life back into maternal health care. This organization of obstetricians, gynaecologists, midwives and general practitioners is dedicated to reducing the tragically high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity throughout the world, through new initiatives of service, training, research, and advocacy. MCI is legally established in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.
Presently, MCI is evaluating an emergency obstetrical service in rural Ghana, and Kenya. MCI has been asked to consider other maternal health projects in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda. MCI is also building a 60 bed birth trauma centre for the west African region to provide treatment and rehabilitation for mothers with obstetric fistula and training for doctors and nurses in their surgical and nursing management. In June 2001, Dr Walley organized a workshop of 140 Obstetricians from 40 countries in Rome. In October 2003, MCI taught a Critical Actions in Labour Management Course in East Timor to medical personnel and Traditional Birth Attendants.
Dr. Walley has received a number of awards, in particular, an award of honour to a person of Science and Faith from the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations at its world congress in New York in 1998 and also an honorary chieftaincy from the Anang people of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria (1982). Dr. Walley is married to Susan, who is his rock and his biggest supporter for his work in Africa. They have lived in Newfoundland since 1973 and have seven children and eight grandchildren.
Dr. Roger Kiska is senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund and based in Vienna. Prior to this Roger was legal counsel for the European Centre for Law and Justice for nearly five years. Prior to that he was legal counsel in the office of Jan Carnogursky (the former Prime Minister of Slovakia). Roger has a Juris Doctorate from Ave Maria School of Law, a Master of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba.
Roger has acted as counsel, co-counsel or intervenor in more than 20 cases before the European Court of Human Rights in his career with notable highlights being:
A., B., and C. v Ireland (intervening party)
Lautsi v. Italy (intervening on behalf of 33 MEPs)
Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church v. Bulgaria (co-counsel)
The Salkotten sexual education cases (lead counsel at the ECHR and UNHRC level)
Johansson v. Sweden (lead counsel for the ECHR case)
Roger has addressed the European Parliament’s Bio-ethics inter-group on three occasions as well as other committees.
Dr. Obilumani Ideh obtained her medical degree from the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She then completed post graduate training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the State University of New York in Buffalo (Sisters of Charity Hospital), USA. She subsequently returned to Nigeria and worked as a consultant in several private hospitals.
In 2006, she teamed up with four other life-affirming physicians to form Doctors Health Initiative, serving as its Vice-President then President. The non-profit organization was born in response to the need for advocacy by medical professionals on the issues of health care delivery, women’s rights and reproductive health with an emphasis on maternal mortality reduction.
She is currently engaged in research and clinical care at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital to meet requirements for fellowship in the West African College of Surgeons. She is married with 3 children.
Mrs. Fiorella Nash is a research officer for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. She has holds a BA in English Literature and an M.Phil from Cambridge University in medieval and renaissance literature. Prior to working for SPUC, Fiorella was the public affairs assistant to cardinal Cormac Murphy O’connor. She has campaigned on issues such as abortion and human embryo research from a feminist perspective, and has a special interest in maternal health in the developing world. Mrs Nash has appeared regularly on radio and writes prolifically for newspapers and magazines in defence of unborn children and their parents. She is also a published novelist and biographer.
