By Elissa Kennedy, Burnet Institute

World leaders, international donors, government officials from developing countries and civil society organisations gathered at the London Summit on Family Planning overnight to support the right of women and adolescent girls to freely decide the number and timing of their children.

The United Nations and the Asian Development Bank have released a report, Accelerating Equitable Achievement of the MDGs: Closing the Gaps in Health and Nutrition in Asia and the Pacific warning that at the present rate of progress, the region as a whole is unlikely to meet MDGs related to eradicating hunger, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, among others.
 

 Dr Joseph Kado, Head of Paedatrics, Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Fiji  and Dr Andrew Steer, Centre of International Health, University of Melbourne, co-presented on Improving hospital care for children in Fiji and the Pacific at the Pacifika Medical Association Conference 2011 which was held from 19-21 August in Nadi.