Arm-in-arm: Madhav K. Nepal with Geri Halliwell
We're used to seeing Geri Halliwell with a revolving collection of men in her company. But her current beau Henry Beckwith need not worry she's got bored of him, because her latest encounter with the male species is strictly business. The former Spice Girl walked arm-in-arm with Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar while on a four-day trip across the Himalayn Country today.
Arm-in-arm: Geri Halliwell walks with Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal at a function in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she is on a four-day tour
Geri, 37, is raising awareness of women's rights and maternal healthcare in her capacity as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Fund for Population Assistance.
The former singer dressed in full cultural dress today as she attended a lunch conference in Kathmandu with the leader to address the issue of gender-based violence.
Nice to meet you: She greets the Prime Minister, flanked by Nepalese actress Karishma Manandhar at a lunch to raise awareness of women's rights
Yesterday, the mother-of-one criticised the way sensitive female illnesses in struggling countries are kept out of the public eye because they are embarrassing.
Fighting for girl power, Geri spoke out against hardship facing sick women in Nepal.
Speaking at a press conference in Kathmandu yesterday the singer said she had visited remote villages in the country and learned of horror stories.
She told how she met women suffering from severe female health issues such as uterine prolapse - a painful and sometimes terminal medical condition where a woman's uterus slips from its normal position through childbirth.
In Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, women have little access to maternal healthcare and have a 1 in 31 lifetime risk of maternal death.
Geri praised recent developments in women's care across the country but said more needed to be done by the international community.
Getting in touch with the locals: Geri visits community health worker Ò Shanta Aryal in the village of Niglihawa
We have come a long way but there is a lot to do as far as bringing women into the twenty-first century,' she said.
But she slammed the way maternal health issues do not get widespread attention because they are 'too clinical'.
She said: 'Some of the topics concerning maternal health care are not the most glamourous, they are not the most cute, they are not the most cosy, they are not the most media-friendly.
'But is it fair that a woman should die giving life?
'I live in Britain. I have to say I am absolutely privileged and grateful to have a national health system and if anything goes wrong, there is a safety net.
'But when I see women out in the fields that are beyond the base line of poverty that can't get to a hospital, and they have to walk 60 miles to receive any maternal health care when they are heavily pregnant, my god, my heart goes out to them.'
Girl Power: The ex-Spice Girl wore full cultural dress for the occasion
- DailyMail.co.uk
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