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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Melany Ethridge: (972) 267-1111, [email protected], Kate Etue: (615) 481-8420 (m), [email protected]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Senator Bill Frist, M.D., announced today that Hope Through Healing Hands (HTHH), a Nashville-based global health organization, will partner with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create the Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide. The organization will be based in Nashville, Tenn., and led by Executive Director Jenny Dyer, Ph.D., who has been with HTHH since 2008.

HTHH was founded by Frist in 2004 to promote improved quality of life for citizens and communities around the world using health as a currency for peace. Now, through its new Coalition, it will focus on galvanizing faith leaders across the U.S. on the issues of maternal, newborn and child health in developing countries, with an emphasis on the benefits of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, including the voluntary use of methods for preventing pregnancy, not including abortion, that are harmonious with their values and religious beliefs.

“Maternal and Child Health issues are at the core of global health and saving lives,” says Doctor-Senator Frist. “We know that family planning, including access to contraception, plays a critical role in combating maternal mortality and enhancing newborn and child survival rates, addressing directly Millennium Development Goals #4 and #5.”

More than 220 million women worldwide who want to avoid pregnancy do not currently have access to effective contraceptives, information or services.

Support for healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies is one of the most cost-effective and powerful strategies to empower women to get more education, obtain better jobs, and contribute to the economic health of their families and communities.

“We are committed to leveraging our own networks in the United States to support maternal, newborn, and child health by promoting awareness and education on the life-saving benefits of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies for mothers and children worldwide,” says Jenny Eaton Dyer, PhD. “We call on others to join this movement to save lives.”

HTHH and the Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide will meet with evangelical and conservative leaders throughout the U.S. with an appeal to support these initiatives, which will save the lives of mothers and children by greatly reducing the number of high-risk and unintended pregnancies that occur each year.

Hope Through Healing Hands is a Nashville-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) whose mission is to promote improved quality of life for citizens and communities around the world using health as a currency for peace. Senator Bill Frist, M.D., is the founder and chair of the organization, and Jenny Eaton Dyer, Ph.D., is the CEO/Executive Director.