Each year, more than 500,000 women — at least one every minute — die from pregnancy–related causes, with millions more being left with life-altering disabilities. CARE recognizes that maternal health is of utmost importance to communities around the world. Unfortunately, maternal mortality is a global epidemic. In some countries, one out of every seven women die in pregnancy and childbirth.
CARE needs your help to reach our goal of investing $1.8 billion to expand successful maternal, newborn and child health programs to more than 30 countries by 2015.
CARE believes that the time has come to stop this tragic trend. The consequences of poor maternal health are grave. When a mother dies, her children are less likely to go to school, get immunized against diseases and eat well, and are up to 10 times more likely to die before their second birthday. USAID has estimated the annual economic impact of maternal and newborn mortality to be a global loss of over $15 billion due to diminished productivity.
In Ayacucho, Peru, CARE worked with community leaders, local women and health workers to cut the maternal mortality rate in half. Click the video screen to your right to learn more about CARE's efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality. (Note—if you are using Internet Explorer, you may see a security warning when trying to view the video. This is only because the video is hosted by YouTube. It is completely safe and will not harm your computer).
Together with our partners, CARE has reached more than 30 million people with information and services to improve their health, including family planning, maternal and newborn care. By preventing high–risk pregnancies, it is estimated that family planning currently prevents 215,000 maternal deaths each year. This is especially important in a world where pregnancy is the leading cause of death worldwide for girls ages 15–19.
Still, nine out of ten women in sub–Saharan Africa will lose a child during their lifetime. CARE believes that statistics like this are unacceptable if we are going to wage an effective fight against global poverty. It's time to put mothers first. Your donation to CARE can help get mothers around the world access to the resources they need to survive.
- $62 can train a community volunteer to provide health support, especially for expectant mothers.
- $76 can train a mother–to–mother support group leader to help women in her community.
- $115 can provide a bicycle for a community health worker to help them reach remote villages.
- $410 can train a government health worker, such as a doctor, nurse, midwife or nutritionist.