Opinion: Aiding maternal and child health
Aiding maternal and child health
Sixteen years ago, in the poorer regions of the world, over 12 million children under the age of five were dying each year due to mainly preventable causes, such as diarrhea and pneumonia. Luckily, progress has been made since then. By channeling our current resources towards this cause, that number has been reduced to 5.9 million children as of this year.
Clearly, drastic change is possible. However, there remains much more to accomplish. There are still 300,000 women dying each year due to preventable, pregnancy-related causes.
We can improve child and maternal health and prevent unnecessary deaths globally by 2035 by holding the U.A. States Agency for International Development (USAID) accountable for creating clear objectives, appointing a child and maternal survival coordinator and directing $2.9 million towards improving health outcomes. In addition, USAID would be required to lay out a country-by-country road map to improve health outcomes by determining which interventions best meet each country’s needs.
Legislation has been created to enforce such changes; the bill is called the Reach Every Mother and Child Act (S.1911, or HR.3706).
We need to call on Sens. Leahy and Sanders to join 25 of their fellow senators and 200 representatives, including Rep. Peter Welch, in sponsoring the Reach Every Mother and Child Act.
Barritt is an advocate for the lobbying group RESULTS.