CARE Applauds Congress for Passing Historic Maternal Health Resolution
"The fact is that maternal deaths are mostly preventable," says Deborah Gordis, CARE's Maternal Health Program director. "CARE applauds Congresswomen Capps and McMorris-Rodgers for their leadership in taking a vital first step towards reducing maternal mortality. We urge other members to join them in bi-partisan support for more resources and a long-term U.S. commitment to maternal health."
Twenty years ago, a woman died from complications during pregnancy and childbirth every minute of every day. Sadly, that figure remains the same today. Maternal deaths represent the greatest disparity in public health worldwide. Currently, the safest place in the world to be a mother is Ireland, where women have a 1 in 47,600 lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth. In poor countries like Niger, 1 in 7 women will die. The United States' ratio is 1 in 4,800.
"Maternal deaths are simply unacceptable," says Christy Turlington Burns, a CARE Ambassador who spoke in support of Resolution 1022 at a Capitol Hill press conference the day before it was passed. "It's especially tragic when you realize that we aren't searching for a cure. We already know what to do. We've had the tools to prevent maternal death for sixty years. We just need the political and social will to get it done."
Cost effective, life-saving interventions include skilled birth care, emergency obstetric care and family planning.
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