Sumie Ishii
JOICFP Secretary General, Executive Director

I extend my New Year greetings for 2006.

The year 2005 was eventful for JOICFP. One major event was participation in the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi. We presented the "Save Mothers" pavilion for the month of May in the NGO Global Village organized by NPO/NGOs.

Thanks to your cooperation, 40,000 people visited our pavilion, and their donations amounted to 920,000 yen, the largest amount among the 30 exhibitors. It was not possible for JOICFP staff alone to carry out the exhibition lasting a month in Nagoya, away from our office. Our success is also credited to the support by volunteers from various parts of Japan. I am pleased that our exhibition bore fruit and would like to thank again those who have rendered their support and cooperation.

At the exhibition, those visitors who had not been familiar with NPOs and NGOs showed their understanding and sympathy with the situation in which mothers in developing countries were placed. We organized a Mothers' Day event, and an international workshop inviting guests from Tanzania, Zambia and Afghanistan, which highlighted the reality faced by millions of women. The Expo Aichi gave us a great opportunity to interconnect the visitors, volunteers and JOICFP staff members, and to further expand the JOICFP human network.

The Millennium Development Goals were set forth in 2000 to push forward the development process of the world. The fifth goal is the improvement of maternal health status. The United Nations held a meeting in September 2005 to make a fifth-year review of progress made so far in New York. At this meeting, it was reported that the speed of improvement is the slowest in Africa, and that if it were to continue at the current pace, none of the eight goals would be achieved by 2010. As far as maternal health is concerned, it was reported that there have been no notable improvements not only in Africa but also in most developing regions. The critical situation where one woman dies every minute somewhere because of pregnancy or childbirth has not at all improved.

In response to the growing sense of crisis, JOICFP has decided to fully devote itself to the "Save Mothers" campaign. Efforts to reduce maternal mortality, which is an important component in reproductive health, have not borne fruit in any region.

Pregnancy and delivery occur only to the female body. High maternal mortality suggests that the risk of death is higher for females. To bear and rear children must not lead to threatening mothers' life. In promoting the "Save Mothers" campaign, we will be faced with the need to change the current situation surrounding women. We will strengthen our movement to spread family planning and to prevent unwanted pregnancies. We want to save the lives of women, including teenage girls. We want to develop environments in which women in developing countries can deliver their children with a sense of security. We will concentrate our efforts to achieve these objectives for the year 2006.

We solicit your cooperation and invite your positive participation in JOICFP activities.