Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Marian Wright Edelman, President and Founder of the Children's Defense Fund, today issued the following statement to focus attention on the danger of maternal mortality around the globe for Women's Preventive Health Week, May 12-19, 2004:

"As we observe Women's Preventive Health Week, I want to highlight a largely preventable health crisis of immense proportions—maternal mortality—which occurs when a women dies during pregnancy or childbirth. Each year, more than 500,000 women die from complications resulting from pregnancy and childbirth—one death every minute. As a result, one million children are left motherless each year due to pregnancy-related maternal deaths. These children are three to ten times more likely to die during the following two years than are children living with both parents. The devastating impact of maternal mortality receives relatively little attention in the United States, in part because a maternal death is a rare event here. Worldwide, however, maternal mortality is a problem of enormous scope and repercussions.

For every woman who dies as a result of pregnancy, about 20 more suffer injury, infection or disease—totaling up to 10 million women each year. In fact, more than 300 million women worldwide experience short or long-term illness or injury related to pregnancy at some point in their lives.

Over the course of her lifetime, a woman has a 1 in 74 chance of dying as a result of pregnancy—1 in 61 in developing countries and 1 in 2,800 in developed countries. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa face the highest lifetime risk at 1 in 16. Almost half of the 529,000 maternal deaths in 2000—247,000—were in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 2,500 in developed regions, including 660 in the U.S.

These deaths and other afflictions are all the more tragic because most could and should be prevented. We know how to reduce maternal mortality and the cost is not prohibitive. A poor country can make dramatic progress in 7-10 years through targeted interventions. While poverty clearly contributes to this crisis, a country need not become rich to greatly reduce its rate of maternal death and injury. Among the keys to reducing maternal mortality are ensuring that: 1) a skilled attendant (doctor, nurse or midwife trained in emergency obstetric care) is present at every delivery, regardless of whether the delivery takes place in a hospital, clinic or home; and 2) every expectant mother has access to a comprehensive obstetric care facility in the event of an emergency. Enhancing access to primary health care for all by building a nation's health care infrastructure can also help achieve these goals.

The truly indispensable element to addressing this crisis is political will. The problem will persist unless developing countries summon the political will to reduce maternal mortality, and wealthy countries, like the U.S., commit to using their financial resources to help. Only through our joint commitment can we alleviate one of the greatest preventable health problems in the world.

The Children's Defense Fund calls on Congress to double the funding for child survival and maternal health, from $330 million to $660 million. This would be a worthy first step towards achieving the goal of lessening the pain, terror and death often associated with childbirth for millions of women."

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.