by Erika L. Sanchez, @ErikaLSanchez
9:05 am on 09/20/2013
A country’s progress is measured in large part by the health of its population. Recently at a conference in Panama, U.S. and Latin American leaders went further, saying it’s very much about a particular group.
“Maternal and child health,” says Ariel Pablos-Méndez, MD, MPH, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health at the USAID, “is at the heart of global health.” Pablos-Méndez, who is a board-certified internist, immigrated to New York from Mexico 35 years ago to pursue a medical career in the United States. He says that his early work with AIDS, as well as tuberculosis treatment and prevention, eventually led him to work in the global health space.
In March 2011, Pablos-Méndez was nominated by President Obama to help steer the Bureau for Global Health’s efforts to accomplish scalable, sustainable and measurable impacts on the lives of people in developing countries. Pablos-Mendez says he is passionate about preventing child and maternal deaths, and believes that with the continued efforts of USAID, this ongoing global problem can finally be eradicated.
“We see a future when we can indeed end child and maternal deaths,” he says. “The rest of the world can join us.”
Pablos-Méndez was one of a group of high level representatives from Latin America, the U.S. and other countries who convened in Panama City for “A Promised Renewed For the Americas.” The aim of the conference was to reduce inequities in reproductive, maternal, and child health as well as identify key interventions and strategic shifts in the Americas.
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While AIDS and tuberculosis have gained a lot of attention through The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, maternal and child health has unfortunately lost visibility, according to Pablos-Méndez. Many women and children continue to die from preventable causes all around the world.
The numbers are staggering. The Pan-American Health Organization has found that more than 180,000 children under the age of 5 and nearly 9,000 mothers still die annually in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Each year, over 121,000 babies in Latin American countries will die during their first month of life. Nearly a quarter of these neonatal deaths are due to premature births and low birth weight. These deaths are more likely to happen if the baby is born to a mother who is poor, uneducated, or lives in a rural area. 95 percent of indigenous children are malnourished, and stunting is 20 percent more prevalent among them. In addition, their life expectancy is 7 to 13 years shorter than the national average.
Fortunately, favorable economic conditions in Latin America have increased in the last decade. Due to years of rapid growth, the World Bank estimates that 70 million people in Latin America have risen out of poverty and 50 million have joined the middle class during this time. A new report from UNICEF found that the world’s neonatal mortality rate fell from 33 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 21 per 1,000 in 2012.
Being from Mexico, Pablos-Méndez is immensely proud of what Latin America has been able to accomplish in a relatively short period of time.
“It’s truly incredible that 50 years ago we couldn’t imagine this possible,” he says.
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Despite overall progress in the region, Pablos-Méndez explains that some countries are lagging behind due to the disparities between the rich and poor. “A Promised Renewed,” he says, is to advance the goals of bridging those wealth gaps. He believes that Latin American countries can accomplish these goals on their own, but it’s crucial to hold governments accountable.
“In order for this to happen, you need better measurements within countries,” he says. “We want to map out where this is occurring and monitor the disparities between the richest and poorest.”
Less than one percent of the total federal budget, Pablos-Méndez states, goes to USAID, though they work in over 100 countries. Still, millions of child and maternal deaths can be prevented.
“American people are helping with their tax dollars,” he says. “And thanking the American people is what I would like to convey.”