by Sylvia Moss

This year I was the Grimsby Labour Party constituency delegate at Conference, which was held in sun-baked Manchester. As well as the main business there was plenty of opportunity to go to seminars and the many fringe meetings. On Sunday lunchtime I chose to go to the Labour Women's Network meeting which was billed as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the formation of the Network, and the 15th birthday of Emily's List.

The speakers were Barbara Follett MP, Glenys Kinnock MEP, Gillian Merron MP and, a surprise and honoured guest, Sarah Brown. The topic under discussion was the Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015. In
response the White Ribbon Alliance
for Safe Motherhood, which is an
international coalition of
organisations and individuals from
all over the world, is working to save
the lives of pregnant women and
newborn children everywhere, and is
promoting the campaign this year.

All the speakers were passionate
about the cause and we heard some
stunning statistics; for example, every minute a woman dies in childbirth, 99% of whom are in the developing world. Many women's deaths could be prevented with just a small amount of drugs. Governments are being urged to respond to this campaign.

I was very inspired by the commitment shown by the platform party and by the people present. I feel this campaign is something everyone could help with, even by being made aware! To this end Muriel and I hope to hold a Women's Forum event with this topic as the main agenda. If anyone is interested please let Muriel or me know. Details below:

Telephone Sylvia Moss 750940 -- e-mail sylvia.moss14@ntlworld.com

Telephone Muriel Barker 313843 -- e-mail mrlbarker@googlemail.com .