Bipartisan agreement on mothers
Political gridlock aside, this is a time of year when Democrats
and Republicans can remember one important thing we all have in common:
none of us would be here without our mothers. But the truth is, many of
us might not be here today if our moms hadn’t had access to basic care
during pregnancy, delivery and afterward.
As we honor our moms on
Sunday, let’s honor motherhood itself by giving all moms the gift they
want most — the chance to deliver and raise healthy children. Worldwide
we lose about 1,000 mothers and more than 22,000 children under the age
of 5 every day, a daily death toll on par with the recent Japanese
disaster repeated day after day. But we can act now to save tomorrow’s
mothers and children.
The United States has a long, proud and bipartisan history of
leadership in the fight to save children’s lives. We must stay the
course.
American researchers pioneered simple solutions that led
to a remarkable decline in child mortality worldwide: life-saving
vaccines, oral rehydration solutions to treat diarrhea, vitamin A
supplements and zinc to fight malnutrition and disease. Much of this was
accomplished with generous funding from the U.S. government.
Between
1990 and 2009, the United States worked with developed and developing
country partners to reduce the global number of under-5 deaths by more
than one-third, from 12.4 million per year to 8.1 million. For years it
was unthinkable that our country would abdicate its leadership in this
realm.
Polls have consistently shown that more than 90 percent of
Americans believe saving children should be a national priority.
Congress and administrations since the early 1980s have responded,
funding the U.S. Agency for International Development and others to
advance the reach of medical breakthroughs and reduce child mortality
rates in the world’s poorest countries.
Today, some of our
former colleagues in Congress suggest that development assistance is
irrelevant to national security, and as a result, foreign aid is ripe
for cuts. But they should listen to those who know firsthand the threats
we face.
Drawing on his recent experience leading the U.S.
Counterinsurgency Training Center in Afghanistan, retired Army Col. John
Agoglia says: “It’s difficult to build a stable democracy when health,
education and opportunity indicators for women and children are at such
low levels. Our policymakers must remember: an investment in people that
improves their chances to survive and progress is an investment in our
national security.”
Former Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy is also
speaking out. “Let’s make no mistake,” she says, “investing in women and
children abroad is an investment in our own economic future.” She notes
that U.S. corporations increasingly rely on developing countries for
new-income growth, and points out that many of the world’s largest
importers of U.S. goods and services were once recipients of U.S.
assistance.
Mulcahy and Agoglia are among the prominent
individuals and everyday citizens pressing for continued U.S. investment
in women and children in Save the Children’s latest “State of the
World’s Mothers” report. The report also discusses particularly
effective solutions that may surprise you. For instance, a cadre of
community-based health workers, given just six weeks of training and a
few basic tools, can reduce child mortality by 24 percent or more.
As
countries like Malawi and Nepal have shown, U.S. assistance can help
empower some of the world’s poorest nations to deliver a child survival
success story through strategic choices that deliver the greatest
returns with limited resources.
It’s difficult to find much that
politicians can agree on these days, but saving the life of a child is
surely a goal we can all support. Mother’s Day is no time to deny moms
the most meaningful gift of all: the survival of their children.
Bill
Frist, M.D., is a former Senate majority leader. Jon Corzine is a
former senator and governor of New Jersey. They are co-chairmen of the
Save the Children’s Newborn and Child Survival Campaign.