OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will travel to the United Nations next week for meetings on Libya and child and maternal health.

Government officials say Harper will meet with fellow world leaders for a so-called "friends of Libya" meeting.

That will allow Harper to get an update from British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who both travelled to Libya this week.

Harper will also co-chair a session of the Accountability Commission on Women's and Children's Health.

The initiative to help poor mothers and children in the Third World was the prime minister's signature initiative of the Muskoka G8 summit he hosted last year.

The prime minister is not expected to address the General Assembly, and will leave that duty to Foreign Affairs John Baird the following week.