Moore to Join Bipartisan Women's Caucus Congressional Delegation at ‘Women Deliver Conference' in London

Press Release

Moore to Join Bipartisan Women's Caucus Congressional Delegation at ‘Women Deliver Conference' in London

Delegation Will Join More Than 1500 World Leaders at Major International Conference on Combating Maternal Mortality

Congresswoman Gwen Moore will join a bipartisan Congressional Delegation in representing the United States at the Women Deliver Global Conference on Maternal Mortality this week. Conference participants, including 1500 world leaders, are meeting in an effort to reduce the 500,000 deaths that occur annually due to pregnancy and childbirth worldwide.

The delegation, headed by Congresswoman Lois Capps, Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, includes Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis (CA-32), Congresswoman Donna Christensen (VI), Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28).

The delegation will join more than 1500 world leaders - including cabinet ministers, heads of United Nations and other multilateral agencies, senior government officials, health professionals, researchers, economists, and reproductive health advocates - in a historic conference in London from October 18-20.

"I am honored to join over a thousand worldwide leaders to address maternal mortality. The risks of death from childbirth and pregnancy affect mothers around the globe. In fact, a woman dies every minute of every day from childbirth and pregnancy complications that could be prevented with the right health care," Congresswoman Gwen Moore said. "This is a serious issue that requires serious action. This conference will allow us to work on solutions to the problems of risky pregnancy and childbirth - like improving access to health education and preventative care."

Despite advances in medical care and technology around the world, motherhood remains a risky endeavor that results in millions of tragic deaths annually. Many of these needless deaths could be prevented with effective, low-cost investments in preventive health care and education.

While the world's poorest women are most vulnerable, recent studies by a U.N. agency working group show that one in 4,800 U.S. women will die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, putting the United States far behind 40 other countries that have fewer deaths due to these causes. This rank shows, for instance, that most European nations have fewer deaths per capita from these causes than the United States.

The Women Deliver Conference participants will examine strategies to improve how health information and care are funded and provided as well as address other important issues for women including poverty reduction, women's human rights, and economic development.

The agenda: Five plenary sessions and nearly 100 concurrent workshops at the conference will focus on five critical areas of investment in women and girls:

Improving women's and newborn health;
Advancing human rights;
Expanding financial resources;
Building political will; and
Promoting women in the world.
The organizers: The conference core planning group includes UNFPA (The UN Population Fund); UNICEF (The UN Children's Fund); the World Bank; the World Health Organization (WHO); the UK's Department for International Development (DFID); the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD); the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida); Family Care International; the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Save the Children; and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

The organizing committee includes more than 40 non-governmental organizations.

For more information, please visit www.womendeliver.org.

Source