UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children

The United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children is a body established under the United Nations Secretary-General's Every Woman Every Child initiative to increase access to essential maternal, newborn, and child health commodities in low-income countries. It set a goal of saving more than six million lives by 2015 by expanding the availability and appropriate use of thirteen underutilized life-saving commodities, including oxytocin, misoprostol, and magnesium sulfate for maternal hemorrhage and eclampsia, antibiotics, steroids, chlorhexidine, and resuscitation equipment for newborn care, amoxicillin, oral rehydration salts, and zinc supplements for child health, and female condoms, contraceptive implants, and emergency contraception for family planning. Rather than attempting to deliver comprehensive healthcare, the commission deliberately targeted a small set of proven, inexpensive, and underused commodities addressing specific high-mortality conditions in resource-limited settings. Its work sits within the broader Every Woman Every Child movement, translating that initiative's political commitments into a concrete commodity access and procurement agenda.