WASHINGTON, D.C. – ON FRIDAY, May 30, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah will travel to Toronto, Canada, to participate in a global summit on maternal, newborn, and child health, hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The summit will bring together global leaders to discuss how to reduce preventable deaths associated with pregnancy, child birth, and the first 5 years of life in the developing world. Shah will discuss USAID’s high-impact, evidence-based interventions that help save the lives of 6 million children under the age of 5 each year.

Last week, Shah announced a new global nutrition strategy for USAID aimed at reducing the number of chronically malnourished or stunted children by at least 2 million over the next five years. Every year, under-nutrition contributes to 3.1 million child deaths—45 percent of the worldwide total. Shah will join Prime Minister Harper, World Bank President Jim Yon Kim and others in a panel discussion about how to ensure maternal, newborn, and child health remain a global priority beyond the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

For more information about the global summit, please click here. Press interested in attending can find more information here or e-mail media@international.gc.ca.