facts about health and poverty

• Every year, more than 500,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth -- 99 percent occur in the developing world.
• Almost 4 million babies die annually in the developing world during their first week of life. These deaths are often the result of limited prenatal health care and births spaced closely together.
• Diarrhea kills about 2.2 million people each year, most of them children under 5.
• By the end of 2001, an estimated 40 million people were infected with HIV, with over 95 percent of those living in developing countries. Approximately 18.5 million people with HIV are women and 3 million are children under age 15.
• Malaria threatens the lives of more than 2.2 billion people in over 100 countries, about 40 percent of the world's population. Each year, an estimated 300 million to 500 million clinical cases of malaria are recorded.

Take Action Online Now! to support increased funding for international health, especially maternal and child health programs. Send a letter to President Bush and your representatives in Congress now. It only takes a minute to make a difference.

Send a CARE e-card to friends and colleagues showing your support of families around the world through CARE.

Make a Donation to help support CARE's critical work to improve health and fight poverty in the developing world.