HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Over recent decades, child and maternal mortality rates have gone through a noticeable decrease globally. According to the U.N. Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, the figure for infant mortality has fallen from 65 to 27 per 1,000 births from 1990 to 2020. Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a 38% decline in global maternal mortality between 2000 and 2017. Nevertheless, the rates are still unacceptably high, especially in the developing world. Hence, as the 10th anniversary of the global Child Survival Call to Action (a USAID program), H.R. 8057- Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2022 emerged with a commitment to targeting global child and maternal mortality.
Contributors to Child and Maternal Mortality
There are various reasons for child mortality, including “poverty, malaria, malnutrition, undeveloped infrastructure and/or insufficient health care.”
Social issues also lead to children’s higher risk of death. Approximately 43% of those under 5 years old living in countries considered “fragile or conflict-affected” are particularly vulnerable, according to WHO’s World Health Statistics 2022.
Complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth are direct causes of maternal mortality. These are considerable bleeding after childbirth, infections, high blood pressure during pregnancy and/or complications from birth.
Furthermore, lack of access to adequate health services, education, as well as poverty is the major culprits behind maternal deaths. The lifetime risk of maternal mortality for a woman in low-income countries is one out of 45, whereas that for a woman in high-income countries is one out of 5,400, according to WHO.
Child Survival Call to Action
In 2012, USAID partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Indian and Ethiopian governments, as well as other health leaders, to inaugurate the Child Survival Call to Action, a program mobilizing global efforts to bring preventable maternal and child deaths to an end. By 2014, USAID devised a well-thought-out strategy named Acting on the Call. Its aim was to save 15 million children and 600,000 women by the end of 2020.
Since 2014, USAID has committed to making a yearly Acting on the Call report to the U.S. Congress on the progress towards maternal and child survival. Specifically, the 2020 report lays emphasis on the vital roles that nurses and midwives play in giving key health care services to women and children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the last 10 years, USAID has managed to save more than 9.3 million children and 340,000 women. In 2020 particularly, the agency provided aid to more than 92 million women and children with access to health services, usually lifesaving ones.
From 2012 to 2020, the U.S. government, including the Department of State and USAID, made generous investments in the excess of $21 billion into child and maternal mortality prevention practices. The amount accounts for up to 36% of the U.S. overall expenses within the duration, according to the Acting on the Call 2021 report.
Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2022
On the occasion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Child Survival Call to Action, H.R.8057-Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2022 was brought to Congress with a view to operating policies to remedy avoidable child and maternal mortality around the world, specifically across developing countries. The bill, among other things, consists of:
- A coordinated U.S. plan working on ending child and maternal mortality
- Thorough reporting standards for all child and maternal health programs to be transparent, effective and holistic
- The stress put on USAID to intensify interventions that are based on evidence and have the highest impacts
- The position of Child and Maternal Survival Coordinator at USAID for the guarantee fruition
- Assistance offered to USAID in terms of novel financing tools
Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) alongside Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the bipartisan Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2022 in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on June 14, 2022.
In conclusion, H.R.8057- Reach Every Mother and Child Act of 2022, together with other programs, engages the U.S. in its long-term commitments as a leader to tackle global child and maternal mortality. This could improve the lives of many children and women.
– Lan Nguyen
Photo: Unsplash