UN’s €30m pledge ‘to save 16 million lives’

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced a $40 billion (€29.9bn) drive to improve the health of women and children, which he said would save millions of lives around the world.

Governments, philanthropists and private groups pledged the cash, giving a spectacular end to the UN summit on eliminating poverty, a campaign that has been badly battered by the international financial crisis.

“We know what works to save women’s and children’s lives, and we know that women and children are critical to all of the Millennium Development Goals,” Ban said in a statement.