| Statement of Commitment and Closure |
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 Cape Town 19 April 2008 -- All delegates having attended Countdown to 2015 Conference have commited to concerted, coordinated action to ensure that millions of lives of mothers, newborns and children are saved by the year 2015.Dr Malick Njie, Minister of Health and Social Welfare, The Gambia, read the Statement of Commitment from the Ministers, parliamentarians, country delegations and all participants to the 2008 Countdown Conference. Of the 68 Countdown priority countries, 61did attend the 2008 Conference. At the final session, reports from regional break-out sessions from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America identified actions which countries would take towards improving maternal, newborn and child survival in their respective regions.
Dr Flavia Bustreo, Deputy-Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health brought together a summary of the conference and highlighted some of its products, including The Lancet Countdown Special Issue, the Countdown 2008 Report and Country Profiles, and the links established with the Parliamentarians.
The Countdown to 2015 will accompany the 2009 Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where a selection of countries (to be determined) are expected to report their actions on achieving maternal, newborn and child survival. Dr Francisco Songane, Director of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health thanked all country delegates for attending the Conference, the organizers and all who worked under difficult time-lines to bring the Countdown 2008 Conference to a successful close.
H.E. Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang, Minister of Health, South Africa thanked delegates and organizers for coming to South Africa for the 2008 Countdown Conference and added: "As we adopt the Statement of Commitment, remember that this is a global call to the overall improvement of health status of women and children of the world."
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