Mothers' Index Shows Need for Maternal Health Funding

InterAction member Save the Children released its annual “State of the World’s Mothers” report today, reminding those holding the purse strings why it is so important to fund maternal and child health care programs worldwide.

The report does a good job showing how U.S. development assistance saves lives and is worth sustaining, even during tough budget times at home. Of the 15 countries that receive the most development assistance, 14 of those have seen reductions in child mortality over the past two decades, the report says.

Save’s “Mothers’ Index”  ranks the world’s best and worst places to have offspring. Norway, unsurprisingly, is the best place to have a baby. Afghanistan is the toughest. Even though it is a country at war, expectant mothers in Afghanistan are at least 200 times more likely to die during childbirth than be killed by a bomb or a bullet. Eight of the worst 10 countries to be a mother are in sub-Saharan Africa.

The report found a handful of “champions” to press for continued investment in maternal and child health care. Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Republican, and his Democratic colleague, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, pressed home to fellow politicians how important it is to keep supporting these programs.

“There is no reason why child survival programs should not continue to receive bipartisan support,” said the two politicians in a joint foreword to the report.

“As Congress and the administration face tough choices about future funding for international programs, let’s work together to give the gift too many mothers still want most—the basic health care that will save their child’s life,” added Frist and Corzine.

We couldn’t agree more. Let’s hope lawmakers will listen to Dr. Frist and  Corzine when they get to the 2012 budget negotiations.

** Save the Children also partnered with independent nonprofit broadcaster LinkTV to create a half-hour documentary on the "State of the World’s Mothers" report. The Mothers' Index will be broadcast on Link TV May 6 and May 10.