A report from the United States Fund for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, presents some very welcome news about already-born children's mortality. Since 1960, the global death rate of children under five has decreased by 60 percent.
In an email announcing the report, US Fund for UNICEF head Caryl Stern says this is reason to redouble systematic lifesaving efforts for the 25,000 children who are still lost worldwide every day. "These children are dying for reasons we can prevent. They do not have to die, but they do. I believe that number should be zero."
To support UNICEF's efforts "towards zero," please visit the US Fund's Donate by Program page.
In a post from January 23, 2008, this blog noted that both global child mortality and abortion rates were declining.
Could it be that measures which benefit already-born kids simultaneously benefit unborn children, and vice versa--contrary to the either/or, zero sum thinking of the US abortion debate and its exports?
And what if the approach of striving for zero preventable child deaths were applied more systematically to abortion and its root causes?
Incidentally, such an approach already meshes quite well with with global efforts to reduce maternal mortality.
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...for visiting the Blog of the Nonviolent Choice Directory.
These measures include post abortion healing; male responsibility; comprehensive sexual/reproductive health education; all voluntary pregnancy prevention methods, plus rape and incest prevention & treatment; and life-affirming ways to get through crisis pregnancy and beyond.
Along with responding to our current action alerts, and participating in our Blog, you are welcome to volunteer with us.
We feature commentary but most of all action alerts on the same positive, abortion-reducing measures we cover in the Directory.
These measures include post abortion healing; male responsibility; comprehensive sexual/reproductive health education; all voluntary pregnancy prevention methods, plus rape and incest prevention & treatment; and life-affirming ways to get through crisis pregnancy and beyond.
Along with responding to our current action alerts, and participating in our Blog, you are welcome to volunteer with us.
Showing posts with label Child Mortality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Child Mortality. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Giving Life Shouldn't Cause Death
Release from the international White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood...Nonviolent Choice is a member organization. You can find a link to WRA on our Affiliations page.
White Ribbon Alliance Calls For International Monetary Fund and World Bank to Invest in Women's Health
Says Deadly Delays and Broken Promises Make Pregnancy and Childbirth #1 Killer of Women in World Today
Washington, DC - The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood today made public its appeals to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to drastically increase investments in women's health. Citing recent reports that the UN Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 is unlikely to be met in Asia until 2076 and many years later in Africa, they challenged world leaders to
move from empty pledges to definitive action, underscoring that 99% of maternal deaths occur in developing nations and jeopardize progress to reduce infant mortality and combat HIV/AIDS and malaria.
"Maternal mortality is the single greatest health indicator of the failure of governments to meet the basic needs of society's poorest and most vulnerable women, said Theresa Shaver, White Ribbon Alliance Executive Director. "Whether in Bangladesh or the Bronx, where there is the political will to invest in health care systems to provide quality obstetric and emergency care, almost all women live through the complications that would otherwise kill them."
Experts estimate a package of maternal health services costing less than US$1.50 per person could make significant improvements in women's health in the 75 countries where 95% of maternal and child deaths occur.
(boldface ours--Marysia)
However, funding for population, family planning and reproductive health has declined since the mid-1990s, especially if HIV/AIDS money is excluded. Meanwhile, aid to the least developed countries has essentially stalled since 2003.
"Just as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank played a critical role catalyzing unprecedented investments in anti-retroviral therapy for more than two million people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, we challenge them to prioritize investments in women's health to save mothers' lives now needlessly lost in these same countries," said Lennie Kamwendo, Chairperson of the White Ribbon Alliance in Malawi.
"Every minute another woman dies in childbirth," continued Shaver. "It is past time for the world's most powerful nations to meet their obligations with no less urgency than steps taken to fight the war on terrorism and secure stability of financial institutions. Not only is an investment in women's health one that reaps enormous economic benefits, it is the right thing to do."
The White Ribbon Alliance is leading a global campaign - A Promise to Mothers Lost: Healthy Pregnancy and Safe Childbirth for All - to hold world leaders to account for the tragedy of maternal mortality during the upcoming meetings of the World Economic Forum in South Africa, G8Summit in Japan and the UN Call to Action in New York.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Deborah Clark, Communications Director
April 11, 2008
White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood
debclark@promisetomothers.org, 202-679-2399
White Ribbon Alliance Calls For International Monetary Fund and World Bank to Invest in Women's Health
Says Deadly Delays and Broken Promises Make Pregnancy and Childbirth #1 Killer of Women in World Today
Washington, DC - The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood today made public its appeals to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to drastically increase investments in women's health. Citing recent reports that the UN Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 is unlikely to be met in Asia until 2076 and many years later in Africa, they challenged world leaders to
move from empty pledges to definitive action, underscoring that 99% of maternal deaths occur in developing nations and jeopardize progress to reduce infant mortality and combat HIV/AIDS and malaria.
"Maternal mortality is the single greatest health indicator of the failure of governments to meet the basic needs of society's poorest and most vulnerable women, said Theresa Shaver, White Ribbon Alliance Executive Director. "Whether in Bangladesh or the Bronx, where there is the political will to invest in health care systems to provide quality obstetric and emergency care, almost all women live through the complications that would otherwise kill them."
Experts estimate a package of maternal health services costing less than US$1.50 per person could make significant improvements in women's health in the 75 countries where 95% of maternal and child deaths occur.
(boldface ours--Marysia)
However, funding for population, family planning and reproductive health has declined since the mid-1990s, especially if HIV/AIDS money is excluded. Meanwhile, aid to the least developed countries has essentially stalled since 2003.
"Just as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank played a critical role catalyzing unprecedented investments in anti-retroviral therapy for more than two million people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, we challenge them to prioritize investments in women's health to save mothers' lives now needlessly lost in these same countries," said Lennie Kamwendo, Chairperson of the White Ribbon Alliance in Malawi.
"Every minute another woman dies in childbirth," continued Shaver. "It is past time for the world's most powerful nations to meet their obligations with no less urgency than steps taken to fight the war on terrorism and secure stability of financial institutions. Not only is an investment in women's health one that reaps enormous economic benefits, it is the right thing to do."
The White Ribbon Alliance is leading a global campaign - A Promise to Mothers Lost: Healthy Pregnancy and Safe Childbirth for All - to hold world leaders to account for the tragedy of maternal mortality during the upcoming meetings of the World Economic Forum in South Africa, G8Summit in Japan and the UN Call to Action in New York.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Deborah Clark, Communications Director
April 11, 2008
White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood
debclark@promisetomothers.org, 202-679-2399
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Worldwide Declines in Unborn & Already-Born Child Mortality
Some recent news:
--Global rates of birth-to-five child mortality are declining. (Press release on the forthcoming UNICEF State of the World's Child Report 2008)
--In the US, unborn child mortality from induced abortion in the US has dropped to its lowest rate since 1974. (Guttmacher Institute press release, January 17, 2008)
--This drop is apparently part of a bigger picture. According to an earlier Guttmacher report, "the number of induced abortions worldwide declined from nearly 46 million to under 42 million between 1995 and 2003." Hopefully there were fewer deaths and injuries of pregnant women, too.
It would be most unfortunate if these welcome stories became cause for complacency. The reasons for each of these declines need to be more fully understood and documented. They need to be made into amply funded action plans that refine or replace the ones in place now (if indeed they are in place now).
Better access to free or affordable reproductive health services, including but not limited to family planning, is one vital reason. The world's largest advocate and provider of reproductive health services is UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
Smear campaigns from contraception opponents have persistently depicted UNFPA as a ruthless promoter of abortions, including coerced abortions. The truth is markedly different.
UNFPA is not perfect, nor does it have a perfect history. But now its abundant work saves and improves born and unborn lives throughout the globe.
Please express gratitude to UNFPA by visiting its How You Can Help page. For example, USD $9 will supply one couple with contraceptives for two years; $20 will cover the costs of safe birthing kits for women in war or disaster situations.
Whatever you do, you will help to make those thankfully falling death rates fall even faster.
--Global rates of birth-to-five child mortality are declining. (Press release on the forthcoming UNICEF State of the World's Child Report 2008)
--In the US, unborn child mortality from induced abortion in the US has dropped to its lowest rate since 1974. (Guttmacher Institute press release, January 17, 2008)
--This drop is apparently part of a bigger picture. According to an earlier Guttmacher report, "the number of induced abortions worldwide declined from nearly 46 million to under 42 million between 1995 and 2003." Hopefully there were fewer deaths and injuries of pregnant women, too.
It would be most unfortunate if these welcome stories became cause for complacency. The reasons for each of these declines need to be more fully understood and documented. They need to be made into amply funded action plans that refine or replace the ones in place now (if indeed they are in place now).
Better access to free or affordable reproductive health services, including but not limited to family planning, is one vital reason. The world's largest advocate and provider of reproductive health services is UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
Smear campaigns from contraception opponents have persistently depicted UNFPA as a ruthless promoter of abortions, including coerced abortions. The truth is markedly different.
UNFPA is not perfect, nor does it have a perfect history. But now its abundant work saves and improves born and unborn lives throughout the globe.
Please express gratitude to UNFPA by visiting its How You Can Help page. For example, USD $9 will supply one couple with contraceptives for two years; $20 will cover the costs of safe birthing kits for women in war or disaster situations.
Whatever you do, you will help to make those thankfully falling death rates fall even faster.
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