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Dear Friends: We pause to recognize progress! Indeed, what began in The Huffington Post as a Countdown to Mother's Day quickly gave rise to six weeks of advocacy and outreach that has amplified the growing chorus of US voices calling for greater US leadership to ensure "Mothers Day Every Day" for women the world over. The first comprehensive global maternal health legislation was introduced on the heels of Mother's Day by Representative Lois Capps (D-CA), an effort that would elevate US assistance for maternal and newborn health and help to save millions of lives. Representative Capps, long-time maternal health champion and lead sponsor of the Global MOMS Act, was joined by Christy Turlington Burns, CARE Maternal Health Advocate and MDED Advisor; Theresa Shaver, WRA President and Executive Director and MDED Co-Founder; and Cathy Woolard, CARE Executive Vice President, Global Advocacy & External Relations at a press conference in front of the US Capitol. "Safe motherhood should be a basic right for all women…The Global MOMS Act would create a comprehensive strategy that better coordinates our efforts on the ground in the countries where women need our help most," said Capps. In less than two months the bill has 57 co-sponsors and has been endorsed by Americans for UNFPA, Amnesty International, CARE, CHANGE, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Guttmacher Institute, IPAS, International Women's Health Coalition, Management Sciences for Health, Marie Stopes International-US, National Council of Women's Organizations, PATH, Pathfinder International, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Action International, Population Services International, and WRA. Click here to read the text of the bill. To send a letter to your Representative in support of the Global MOMS Act, click here. 
(l-to-r) CARE Maternal Health Advocate and MDED Advisor Christy Turlington Burns, Representative Lois Capps, WRA President/Executive Director and MDED Co-Founder Theresa Shaver and CARE Executive Vice President Cathy Woolard introduce Global MOMS Act during Capitol Hill press conference.
That same day, CARE kicked off its CARE Annual Conference with more than 900 advocates from every state in the U.S. They were joined by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, CARE President and CEO and MDED Co-Founder Dr. Helene Gayle and MDED Advisors Christy Turlington Burns and Anita McBride; and three First Ladies – Maria da Luz Guebuza of Mozambique, Sia Nyama Koroma of Sierra Leone, and Ida Odinga of Kenya. Together, they advocated for the Global MOMS Act as well as initiatives to end child marriage and improve food aid. Across town on Embassy Row, Lady Julia Sheinwald, wife of UK Ambassador Nigel Sheinwald, later welcomed the three First Ladies as special guests to a British Embassy Tea honoring the White Ribbon Alliance for its leadership to the growing global campaign for maternal health. 
(l-to-r) First Lady Ida Odinga, Lady Julia Sheinwald, First Lady Sia Nyama Koroma, First Lady Maria Da Luz Guebuza, and WRA President Theresa Shaver at British Embassy Tea.
Without a doubt, maternal health champions found themselves in great company at the Women Deliver Conference when 3,400 advocates, policymakers, development leaders, health care professionals, youth, and media from 146 countries converged on Washington DC. Among the highlights that stimulated minds while stirring souls was the opening night screening of the new documentary, No Woman, No Cry and the multi-media debut of Stories of Mothers Saved on exhibition throughout the 3-day conference. No Woman, No Cry Director Christy Turlington Burns takes viewers to experience the poignant stories of pregnant women in four parts of the world: a remote Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a slum of Bangladesh, a health clinic in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States. Stories of Mothers Saved, through video testimonies and photos collected by WRA members in over 60 communities in nearly 30 countries, brings to life the stories of women who survived childbirth because of urgent actions taken by family members, neighbors or health workers. MDED Advisor Tammy Haddad moderated the panel that followed No Woman, No Cry and included Christy with fellow directors, Lisa Russell of Governess Films and Mary Olive Smith who produced and directed the award-winning documentary, A Walk to Beautiful. To find out more about No Woman, No Cry and Stories of Mothers Saved, go to http://www.everymothercounts.org and http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/sm_saved CARE conducted its fourth Learning Tour to Peru over the June Congressional recess. The purpose of these trips is to showcase how U.S. investments in maternal health are paying off and build political champions for the issue. Secretary Donna Shalala was incredibly valuable to the success of this trip as host to Representative Kay Granger (R-TX), Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and his wife Soraida, NPR Producer Andrea Hsu, and Karen Kelly, CARE Action Network district chair from TX. The delegation visited programs in Lima and Ayacucho that demonstrate health system strengthening at the community and facility level which contributed to a 50% reduction in maternal mortality and has been incorporated into national policy. Everyone was motivated by the success and encouraged that the program is being replicated in other countries throughout the region by CARE. Secretary Shalala, who is MDED Co-Chair, is drafting an op-ed; Representative Gutierrez is now a co-sponsor of the Global MOMS Act; Representative Granger participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill on the topic and profiled her trip at a Women's Summit in Fort Worth with over 550 participants; Karen Kelly participated in that summit and is working on other local events and media opportunities; Andrea Hsu produced the Melinda Gates interview with Michele Norris at Women Deliver and is working on a ten-part series on maternal health for NPR. Stay tuned! No sooner had Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) returned to Washington, DC did she participate in a packed bi-partisan briefing for several dozen colleagues on Capitol Hill, hosted by CARE. Christy Turlington Burns and MDED Advisor Mark Dybul, former head of PEPFAR joined Rep. Granger on an energetic panel chaired by MDED Advisor Anita McBride, former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush. All spoke from firsthand experience abut the buy-in necessary from all sectors of society to save women's lives. ''These women aren't dying because the global health community doesn't know how to prevent their deaths; they are dying because the world has not stepped up and helped,'' said Rep. Granger. ''Peru has stepped up…They have made a significant difference in maternal mortality that can be replicated in countries around the world if they take the practical steps Peru has taken.'' 
(l-to-r) Rep. Kay Granger, Christy Turlington Burns, Mark Dybul, and Anita McBride at maternal health briefing on Capitol Hill.
Here's to an even more active summer of advocacy and movement-building! Go to www.mothersdayeveryday.org to get involved! Thank you.
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© 2010 The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood® and CARE. All rights reserved. |
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