¡¡AMMAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Jordan is to host an international conference on women's health and education slated to kick off on Sunday, local newspaper The Jordan Times reported on Wednesday.

    The three-day event, titled "Mobilizing for Action", is aimed to seek the most effective ways to turn the tide on maternal and newborn mortality and to ensure that girls everywhere have access to education.

    The conference will draw female leaders, leading advocates for women and children's rights, philanthropists and dignitaries from around the globe.

    Former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former president of Ireland and UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, first ladies of Ukraine, Bahrain, Egypt, Rwanda, Zambia and Mauritania are expected to attend the meeting, according to the report.

    During the conference, a new international advocacy group called the Global Women's Action Network for Children, will be launched.

    The group is dedicated to identifying, funding and supporting programs to help women, girls and infants.

    "As you educate a woman, you educate the family. If you educate the girls, you educate the future," Jordanian Queen Rania, the event's patron, said on her official website.

    Every minute somewhere in the world a mother dies from childbirth, every hour 60 newborn babies die from mostly preventable causes and every three seconds a child under five dies. Enditem