Ambitious

quantitative goals for reducing mortality and increasing access to health interventions are nothing new to the areas of child, maternal, and reproductive health. They are the standard fare of global declarations and national 5-year plans. They come. They go. What makes the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) different? With health firmly embedded in this wider poverty-reduction initiative, which has garnered unprecedented consensus and support from governments and multilateral organisations, the global health community has a rare opportunity to break through to new ways of thinking about the obstacles now blocking improvements in the health of women and children and to translate that thinking into bold new steps to meet goals 4 and 5 (table)