home > by publication type > op-eds > Foreign aid reflects lack of concern for mothers
Email
| Authors: | Laurie A. Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy |
|---|
August 8, 2006
Toronto Star
Every day, some 1,400 women die from problems related to pregnancy and childbirth. More than half a million mothers die worldwide every year, and 9 million are severely disabled, just for giving birth.
While many other health problems in the world are witnessing remarkable breakthroughs, maternal mortality remains persistently high in some parts of the world, notably sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The reasons are many: HIV infection, lack of access to life-saving C-sections, post-delivery bacterial infections, the side effects of prior—usually illegal—botched abortions, lack of prenatal care, inferior nutrition, child marriage resulting in teen pregnancy, and simply too many pregnancies.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are directed to saving the world’s babies, infants and small children, but only paltry sums are dedicated to ensuring those children will have mothers to raise them. This extraordinary imbalance in philanthropic grants, attention from humanitarian and relief organizations, and foreign aid commitments from the U.S. and other G-8 governments reflects a remarkable lack of concern for the survival of women. As rash as that statement may seem, it is reflected in the data, both in terms of where women are at greatest risk, and how donors are spending their foreign aid dollars.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.