Global Child Survivial Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise before you today to speak about a population that is all too often forgotten in the poorest corners of our world; women and children. A woman's pregnancy should be a joyous time in her life. Sadly, in many developing countries countless women suffer from pregnancy-related injuries, infections, diseases, and disabilities often with lifelong consequences. Too often their children die or struggle from a lack of basic childhood medical care.

Over the years I have traveled to some of the poorest corners of the world, from Congo to Haiti. I have seen those who struggle to find food and water, battle AIDS, TB and malaria, and fight every day to eke out a living against great odds.

Yet one of the most fundamental struggles I have witnessed is that of a mother and child surviving pregnancy and childbirth. It is heartbreaking to hear stories of women who have been in labor for days before being able to reach a hospital, of those who die giving birth because of a lack of basic medical facilities, of the thousands of children who could be saved with low cost vitamin A supplements, or of the thousands of children left as orphans.

What could be a more fundamental need in our world than making sure women and children survive childbirth?

Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health make up two of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals. While progress has been made in many countries, an effort to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds and improve maternal mortality to achieve MDG targets has made the least progress than any of the other MDG's.

That is why Senators Dodd, Corker and I introduced the Global Child Survival Act of 2009.

This legislation is about strengthening the U.S. Government's role in saving the lives of children and mothers in poor countries. The act would require the U.S. Government to develop a strategy for supporting the improvement of newborns, children, and mothers.

Across the developing world, mothers are dying giving birth from complications such as hemorrhaging, sepsis, hypertensive disorders, and obstructed labor. Each year, more than half a million women die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.

The sad reality is that most of these complications have easy and preventable solutions. In fact, if women had access to basic maternal health services, an estimated 80 percent of maternal deaths could be prevented.

Key interventions, such as adequate nutrition, antenatal care, skilled attendance at birth and access to emergency obstetric care when necessary,
are already improving the health outcomes for mothers and infants around the world.

But we can do more. We must do more.

Accordingly, the Global Child Survival Act would create an interagency task force on child and maternal health. Through building local capacity and self-sufficiency, partnering with nongovernmental organizations and participation by local communities we can better coordinate activities directed at achieving maternal and child health goals.

The act builds on existing interventions that support counseling for new mothers. Research has shown that most of the 4 million newborn babies that die every year could be saved by training parents in simple care practices and by training health workers to help newborns with complications.

Factors such as malnutrition, unsafe drinking water, and inadequate access to vaccines contribute greatly to global child mortality. Three quarters of newborn deaths take place in the first 7 days of life; most of these deaths are also preventable. Effective low-cost tools--such as vaccines and antibiotics--could save the lives of 6 million of these children.

The reproductive risks young girls in developing countries face are linked to lower levels of schooling and to underlying factors of poverty, poor nutrition, and reduced access to health care. That is why the Global Child Survival Act also supports activities to promote scholarships for secondary education. Educating girls and young women is one of the most powerful ways of breaking the poverty trap and creating a supportive environment for maternal and newborn health.

I am pleased that many partners in this fight are showing an interest in moving forward in this fight. In May, President Obama announced a Global Health Initiative proposing $63 billion over 6 years, specifically emphasizing maternal and child health as a piece of the initiative.

President Obama also called attention to maternal and child mortality during his recent travel to Africa. After visiting a USAID funded hospital in Accra, Ghana the President stated, ``Part of the reason this is so important is that throughout Africa, the rate of both infant mortality but also maternal mortality is still far too high.''

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Global Child Survival Act to help show our commitment to improving the lives of women and children around the world. It is an important step, along with such basics as clean water and sanitation, food security, and education, in improving the lives of the world's poor.

Source