Dear Members and Partners, 
Dear Colleagues, 

The Alliance for Maternal Health Equality in cooperation with MSD for Mothers is pleased to invite you to a session with a difference during the European Health Forum Gastein 2016. 

As the Alliance for Maternal Health Equality, we have been working on improving the access to maternal health care together with our members. Since our launch at the European Parliament (EP) in 2015 and with a cross-party, multi-national and multi-sector support, we have been calling for equity of access to quality maternal healthcare, as it is a litmus test of healthcare system performance. Our high level stakeholder discussion during this year's Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen, as well as activities such as the EP Declaration on universal access to maternal health care have demonstrated the need to focus on maternal health and the disparities which exist across Europe. 

The session aims to develop a health systems performance matrix focusing on several equally important aspects of maternal healthcare: 
  • Timeliness and Accessibility
  • Safety, Quality and Standards
  • Resilience and Efficiency
  • Equity
  • Person-centric
We are pleased to have a number of distinguished speakers:
  • Ciara O'Rourke, MSD for Mothers Lead in Europe, Director - Public Policy (Europe & Canada) 
  • Mervi Jokinen, President, European Midwives' Association
  • Ramazan Salman, Executive Director, Migrants for Migrants (MiMi), Germany
  • Daniela Drandic, Head of Reproductive Rights Campaign, RODA
  • Stephen Mifsud, Health and Consumer Protection Attache, Permanent Representation of Malta to the European Union (TBC)
  • Francois Fille, European Advocacy Coordinator, Doctors of the World International
  • Agnieszka Luczynska, Migrant Mediator, Health with Migrants for Migrants (MiMi)
The highly interactive format of this session will invite attendees to engage in a range of different ways in order to make the most of their expertise and backgrounds, in order to determine a set of criteria on national health systems performance measurement for maternal health.
  • Quick-fire presentations in Pecha Kucha format to set the scene
  • A serious "game" that will stimulate debate among stakeholders
  • Structured World Cafe discussions to generate and define criteria
We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a lively and dynamic session.