Midwives, health-care providers and professional associations are the closest to delivering on the promise of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) to millions of women, children and adolescents and ensuring universal sexual and reproductive health and rights.

“Around one in five women will experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth, but maternal mental health disorders are treatable," said Julieta Kavetuna, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, Namibia, at the International Confederation of Midwives regional conference in Windhoek.

Earlier this year, Haderu Gebray, 15, and her parents were arrested for planning her wedding. Child marriage is illegal in Ethiopia yet her father, who works in government, planned to wed her to an older man she had never met. Her plight hit the media headlines instantly.