INSPIRATION LINE'S MEANINGFUL LIFE ANSWERS & ENCOURAGEMENT BLOG BOARD

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Mothers Day Every Day For Healthier Families, Communities and Nations

By Congresswoman Lois Capps (Biography: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-lois-capps )

Progress is being made to save the lives of mothers and newborns around the world. Still, every minute, a woman dies of complications in pregnancy and childbirth, leaving her baby more likely to die within two years. Most of these deaths could be prevented. Join the Mothers Day Every Day campaign in the global movement to call upon world leaders to invest in health workers and strengthen health systems so that every day, everywhere in the world, all women and newborns have access to lifesaving care.

Each May, we celebrate and honor mothers. The treasure of motherhood is something that people of every political philosophy and walk of life can agree on. But despite this veneration of motherhood, giving birth can still be dangerous, especially in places where it is difficult to access healthcare.

Every minute of every day, a woman somewhere in the world dies as a result of pregnancy or childbirth--amounting to more than half a million fatalities each year. In developing nations, a woman's lifetime risk of dying from reproductive problems is as high as one in seven, and problems with pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of the disease burden among women.

But the problem is far from isolated to the developing world. While the average risk of a woman dying in childbirth is 1 in 8000 for industrialized countries, the risk in the United States is much higher: 1 in 4800. In fact, the U.S. ranks 41st in the world in terms of maternal mortality.

The devastation of a mother's death is difficult to overstate. It is cataclysmic for her family, and the effects ripple through her neighborhood, community, and country. Every year, a million children are left motherless because of maternal death, and children who have lost their mothers are 10 times as likely to die prematurely than those who have not.

When the United Nations was developing its Millennium Development Goals, researchers realized that many of the goals they hoped to reach--reducing infant mortality, combating the spread of AIDS, giving every child access to education--hinged at least in part on curbing maternal mortality. Therefore, the central Millennium Development Goal, number 5, is to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters by 2015.

On the bright side, we know exactly what must be done to meet that goal. When women have access to good healthcare throughout pregnancy and childbirth, almost all survive whatever complications may arise. But in developing nations, forty percent of women give birth without a skilled healthcare attendant. These women are vulnerable to uncontrolled bleeding, infections, and other conditions that would require very little medical intervention to correct. Expanding childbirth assistance is extremely effective at saving the lives of mothers and newborns. Poor countries need help to deploy more skilled health workers and strengthen health systems. Helping women give birth safely allows them to contribute to the health, self-sufficiency, and economic prosperity of their families, communities, and nations.

I will spend this Mother's Day in Haiti, home to the highest maternal mortality rates in the Western Hemisphere. Last year for the first time, health authorities in Haiti began to waive pregnant women's hospital fees, but women are still usually forced to pay for doctors' gloves, syringes, food, and medication. As a result, many women are forced to give birth at home, unattended or with untrained midwives who utilize traditional medicines and are unequipped to handle complications.

That is why I am working with the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and CARE to launch Mothers Day Every Day: The Campaign for Healthy Moms and Newborns and am currently drafting legislation with Senator Gillibrand to address maternal mortality. We are seeking expanded U.S. leadership to help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and newborns around the world. In doing so, we recognize the profound importance of every mother, every day. Indeed, when mothers survive childbirth, they give birth to healthier families, communities and nations.

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and CARE, two organizations at the forefront of global women's health issues, have joined Secretary Donna Shalala and UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman and a distinguished group of advocates to promote Mothers Day Every Day, a campaign that raises awareness and advocates for greater U.S. leadership to improve maternal and newborn health globally. To learn more, visit www.mothersdayeveryday.org.



U.S. Must Take Leadership to Make Mother's Day Every Day

By Donna E. Shalala (Biography: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donna-e-shalala )

There's a buzzword humming on Capitol Hill and it is coming up in discussions from economic development and microfinance, to U.S. safety and security, to population growth and global health. This buzzword -- women -- is by no means new. But a fresh look at the fundamental role women play in the physical, social and economic health of nations is about to bring a welcome new approach to U.S. policies toward women in the developing world.

In his column earlier this month, Nicholas Kristof made a simple yet powerful point http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/opinion/10kristof.html?_r=2 -- the U.S. Senate is discovering women. His reference is not to the 17 women senators in the 111th Congress, but to global women's issues that after 30 years may finally gain traction in the U.S.

The creation of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women's Issues marks the first time ever that a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee will have a clear focus on women's issues and is a historic step forward in U.S. policy toward women. Chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the Subcommittee can restore respect for U.S. leadership and values and save millions of lives by placing women where they belong -- at the center of everything. And it starts with making sure that every woman, no matter where she lives, has the opportunity for a healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth.

This is why I and leading bipartisan voices will join two organizations at the forefront of this issue -- the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and CARE -- to launch a groundbreaking new campaign to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and newborns around the world at risk during pregnancy and childbirth -- Mother's Day Every Day.

As groups working in the developing world already know, women -- and more specifically mothers -- are the key to overall global health, self-sufficiency, economic growth and peaceful sustainability. Mothers raise children and provide their families with income and food. They ensure that children are educated and receive the health care they need. In short, when mothers survive childbirth, they give birth to healthier families, communities and nations.

Survival is the key word here, because mothers can't help build and sustain thriving communities when they don't survive. And while progress is being made, childbirth remains the leading killer of young women worldwide taking more than 500,000 women's lives each year. Every minute somewhere in the world, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth. And for every mother who dies, 30 more are living with debilitating injuries which can leave them incapacitated, in chronic pain and even shunned from their communities.

Why should U.S. policymakers care when a mother dies in a village thousands of miles away? A mother's death has long-term implications, one of which is a continued cycle of poverty for her family and community. When a mother dies, enrollment in school for younger children is delayed and older children often leave school to support their family. Children without a mother are less likely to be immunized, and are more likely to suffer from malnutrition and stunted growth. And as families accrue expenses for medical interventions that came too late and that they cannot afford, communities take on the burden of caring for the bereaved and impoverished family.

Mother's Day Every Day calls for greater U.S. leadership to accelerate progress toward safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth for all, and builds on the momentum generated in the House and Senate when both passed resolutions last year calling for the United States to make a stronger commitment to reduce maternal mortality at home and abroad. US investment in other global health priorities, including HIV and AIDS through the president's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), have been critical to increasing access to HIV prevention and treatment and improving the health of people around the world. The U.S. must also be a global leader on maternal health.

In many areas, a woman gives birth alone with no medical assistance. The vast majority of pregnancy-related deaths and injuries can be prevented with access to basic interventions -- like skilled care at birth and emergency obstetric care -- that have already been proven effective in the developing world.

Many women in the U.S. Congress, including Senators Olympia Snowe and Blanche Lincoln, and Representatives Lois Capps, Nita Lowey and Betty McCollum have been working to raise the visibility of these issues in the last year. As Senator Boxer takes on her new role as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy, and Global Women's Issues, there is no doubt that she will be an excellent champion for these issues. By expanding proven strategies, hundreds of thousands of women and newborns can lead healthy, empowering, inspiring lives. It begins with the United States leading the way in making Mother's Day Every Day.

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and CARE, two organizations at the forefront of global women's health issues, have joined Secretary Donna Shalala and UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman and a distinguished group of advocates to promote Mothers Day Every Day, a campaign that raises awareness and advocates for greater U.S. leadership to improve maternal and newborn health globally. To learn more, visit www.mothersdayeveryday.org


Let's Make Mother's Day a Global Reality

By Liya Kebebe (Biography: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liya-kebede )

There is a saying in Africa that to find out you are pregnant is to have one foot in the grave. It must sound strange to Americans, since becoming a mother is so celebrated here. But in the developing world, more women die from pregnancy and childbirth than any other cause. In my native Ethiopia, children are treasured, yet dying in childbirth is a fact of life. I now live in the U.S. and had my two children here, where death in childbirth is almost nonexistent, so I've lived the difference. That difference leaves me haunted by what pregnancy and childbirth means for so many women in places like Ethiopia.

Every minute, a woman dies in childbirth, mostly from preventable causes. Ninety-nine percent of those deaths occur in the developing world. No other health disparity is so stark; virtually every woman who dies giving birth lives in a poor country. And as horrific as this statistic is, it hides the true scope of the problem. For every woman who dies in childbirth, twenty more will suffer debilitating and often lifelong injuries. Injuries such as fistula -- literally a hole between the mother's vagina and her bladder or rectum that is caused by obstructed labor and avoided in the developed world through medical intervention -- often leave women isolated, rejected by their communities and unable to support themselves.

When a mother is harmed, her community is devastated. Her children are up to ten times more likely to die within two years. They are less likely to be immunized, more likely to be malnourished, more likely to contract HIV and more likely to be exploited. Older children are denied an education because they must care for siblings or work to feed their families. Much attention is justifiably paid to children's health issues but one of the best ways to protect a child's health and future is to protect his or her mother.

Maternal mortality isn't just a family tragedy or a problem for the developing world. It affects us all. We can't end poverty if we fail to save the lives of our world's mothers. USAID estimates that the world economy loses $15.5 billion dollars each year because of preventable maternal deaths. When we lose our mothers, we lessen productivity, deepen gender inequality and destabilize societies. When our mothers are alive and healthy, they do extraordinary things...like the mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who marched in Argentinean plazas, defying the military junta dictatorship and demanding the whereabouts of their abducted children...or the Liberian mothers who faced down civil war armed only with T-shirts and courage. If we are going to solve the unbelievable global challenges that face us all, we're going to need our mothers.

The good news is that we can prevent these deaths. The solutions are known and relatively inexpensive. The developed world has proven that eradication is possible over time, but other countries have demonstrated that serious progress is within reach quickly. Thailand, Egypt, Nepal and Honduras have each dramatically reduced maternal mortality in the last decade -- in stark contrast to the worldwide rate, which has fallen by less than one percent since 1990. Their individual programs varied, but each country shared an overriding strategic objective: a national commitment to reducing maternal mortality.

The United States has a historic opportunity to lead the fight against maternal deaths and we should seize it. There is a bill in the House of Representatives right now -- the Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act of 2009 -- which would put saving mothers' and children's lives at the center of U.S. foreign aid. The Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act of 2009 (H.R. 1410) establishes a comprehensive strategy to reduce deaths and bring cost-effective health tools within reach for the world's poorest nations. However, the bill won't even come up for a vote until our representatives know that voters understand that saving the lives of mothers must be central to our investments in the developing world. And governments won't invest in women's health until they know it is a voter priority. Call or write your representative and tell them that you expect them to support this bill.

And there are other ways to get involved. You can check out my Foundation's website -- www.theliyakebedefoundation.org or learn more from the Mothers Day Every Day U.S. advocacy campaign sponsored by the White Ribbon Alliance and CARE - www.mothersdayeveryday.org. Investing in women's lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations -- and consequently in our own long-term national interests. Mother's Day is May 10th. This Mother's Day, remember to thank your mother, but also take a moment to voice your support for the health and safety of mothers worldwide.