In it, she writes:

Participants of the conference were well aware of the sobering magnitude of the work yet to be done in this field, and one of the main themes that resonated throughout the conference is the need for committed political leadership on these critical issues. The message cannot be ignored; political will is essential to accessing the resources necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals — particularly MDG #5, which is focused on the improvement of maternal health.

The conference also reminded participants of the U.S. commitment to making women’s health a priority. Through the Obama Administration’s Global Health Initiative (GHI) the United States will invest $63 billion over six years to help partner countries improve health outcomes through strengthened health systems — with a particular focus on improving the health of women, newborns and children through programs including infectious disease, nutrition, maternal and child health, and safe water.

In spite of the obstacles, a positive, concurrent theme also has emerged from the conference: the acknowledgement of successes, whether these be small, like helping a mother of six gain access to family planning services, or large, such as the Gates Foundation’s commitment of $1.5 billion to maternal and child health. These victories must be told here and continue to be told to the international community in order to exemplify and celebrate the improvements being made for the lives of the world’s women by the international actors, advocates and leaders present at this conference.

But anyone who works there for long knows that it doesn’t always go well. Modern technology and good obstetric training help many in the developed world avoid difficulties during birth, but in the developing world—where health facilities can be difficult to reach, understaffed and lacking in even basic equipment and medicine— delivering a baby can be filled with danger.

Our team at the Pulitzer Center would like to solicit your thoughts, experiences and opinions on maternal health. To do that, we’ve teamed up with the writers’ site Helium to sponsor a writing contest that we hope will prompt a global conversation. The question for the competition is:

“Hundreds of thousands of women die each year due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. What are first steps to making a difference?”

For me, witnessing a birth—even one without complications—was a life-changing experience that’s motivated me to raise awareness about maternal mortality issues. I know the collection of essays inspired by this contest will be a powerful voice in that effort and I look forward to reading them.

The deadline for the competition is Thursday, June 24 so make sure to submit your essay right away (http://www.pulitzercenter.org/showproject.cfm?id=161). All submitted essays will be shown on the Helium and Pulitzer websites and a winner will be selected from the 10 best entries as judged by the Helium community. The winner will receive the Pulitzer Center Global Issues/Citizen Voices Award and will be announced on Wednesday, July 7.

-Kate Steger, Outreach Specialist, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

I had the opportunity to thank her for joining Melinda Gates and thousands of ONE members this spring on the Women ONE2ONE Interactive Conference Call . She said that her participation on the call seemed “small” in comparison to the efforts of ONE to promote child and maternal health in the developing world. She also expressed her excitement over Ms. Gates’ announcement Monday that the Gates Foundation had committed $1.5 billion over the next five years “to support family planning, maternal and child health, and nutrition programs in developing countries.”

Thank you to Amb. Verveer and Melinda Gates, two agents of change empowering women worldwide!

First premiered in Washington, D.C., powerful photos from the Women ONE2ONE trip to Ghana and Sierra Leone went to Rock Hill, South Carolina, last week. This exhibit gives light to effective US investments that have empowered women in the developing world to be agents of change in their communities as entrepreneurs, farmers, health care workers, and organizers.

ONE member Stephen Crotts hosted “Women Who Go Beyond” in his gallery at the Gettys Art Center to share these incredible success stories with local art enthusiasts at the Old Town Art Crawl. Local Congressional District Leader Phillip Reynolds represented ONE at the event and signed up new members.

You can listen to Phillip and ONE photographer Morgana Wingard discuss the photo exhibit on the local talk show Palmetto Mornings here.

[Photos credits: Gallery Up and Friday Arts Project]

This March, the Lancet released new statistics that revealed an unprecedented drop in the number of women who die every year during pregnancy and childbirth. The study found that from 1980 to 2008, maternal deaths globally have fallen from 500,000 each year to 340,000. Having spent some 40 years working on women and children’s health in Ghana and across Africa, I welcomed this progress. But as the world celebrated, I also couldn’t help but wonder, “Where is Africa?”

It is an unfortunate truth that progress for the world at large does not necessarily mean progress for Africa. In 1980, almost a quarter of maternal deaths occurred in African countries. Today that figure has doubled to more than half. All but one of the 30 countries with the worst maternal mortality statistics are in Africa. And while countries like Ghana and Rwanda have seen a steady decline in maternal deaths over the past 15 years, others such as Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire actually have higher maternal mortality rates than they did in 1990.

Addressing maternal mortality in Africa is complex and challenging. Our countries face increasing rates of HIV, entrenched and debilitating poverty, food shortages, weak education and health care systems, problematic governance, corruption, and civil conflict. These are huge issues in their own right, but they also have significant impact on maternal, newborn and child health. The challenges, however, are not the whole story.

Many African leaders understand the urgency of addressing the maternal health crisis, despite its complexity. They have a sister, a niece, or a daughter who has died—or if they do not, they certainly understand the broader impact maternal death has on their countries. Women are the heart of African economies. They transport two-thirds of all goods that are moved and produce 60-80 percent of the food in the developing world. And maternal and infant deaths account for $15 billion in lost productivity.

It doesn’t need to be like this. I am confident that we can address this crisis if we shift our approach and start investing in women. We must increase women’s access to health services. We must promote business development and support women with grants and loans. We must ensure that girls have access to quality education. And we must work to convince our neighbors, be they relatives or countries, to prioritize women and girls in all that they do.

Many African governmental, academic and civil society leaders have answered this call and taken bold, local action to address this urgent issue. For example in November 2009, leading African science academies gathered together to produce scientific guidelines for reducing maternal mortality across the continent. In my home country of Ghana, two successive governments have championed free maternal health care for all. Ghana is now seeing what improving maternal health can do for a country. Despite the global recession, the economy has been growing, and of all African countries, it has made some of the most progress on the Millennium Development Goals.

African leaders are also insisting, rightfully, that their voice on this issue be heard. In less than two weeks, I will be joining 16 health and finance ministers and 15 members of parliament from 22 countries in Africa at Women Deliver, the largest global conference on maternal health in the past decade. Just weeks before the June G8/G20 meeting in Canada—where maternal health will be a top priority—Women Deliver will call on member states to increase their financial commitments to women and girls.
In July, African leaders will gather again at the Summit of the African Union. Here they are expected to renew the Maputo Protocol (which I should point out was drafted by African leaders) and includes perhaps the most comprehensive set of women’s rights ever recorded in an international treaty. With strong efforts like these, African governments have shown the depth of their commitment to these issues. Now, we need to follow through.

African countries are not alone in this struggle. In fact, in recent years, maternal deaths in the United States have also taken a dramatic turn for the worse. And addressing maternal health globally requires more than just African commitments. It depends on action from donor countries, other developing countries, businesses, and non-government and multilateral organizations alike. But African countries have the most to lose in this struggle and also the most to gain. This issue is about our family members and friends; it is about our economies and our countries; and it is about the survival and future of our children.

Reducing maternal deaths is not a simple battle, and the increasing ratio of maternal death in African countries will continue to shame and burn me until we see progress across the continent. I do, however, rest a little bit easier seeing the momentum around this issue. And I hope that when the next round of statistics are released, the story is about African progress—progress that was spearheaded by Africans. When you look at the statistics, you might also ask the question, “Where is Africa?” You can be sure that Africa is here. I urge you to support our effort.

-Dr. Fred Sai

On Sunday the project came to a close, with a new Vital Voices video—along with the three winning videos submitted to YouTube Video Volunteers— featured front and center on the YouTube homepage. The film tells the powerful story of Kakenya Ntaiya, a woman who built the first school for girls in her Maasai village in Kenya. Check it out below!

Women’s stories who suffer from obstetric fistula are always similar; a woman loses her baby in a long, painful, obstructed labor and then wakes up to the horror of incontinence. A woman with fistula is often abandoned by her husband, ostracized by her family and village and left to live the rest of her life alone and ashamed. While fistula can be cured, less than 4,000 women per year can be treated in Ethiopia. And many women who do receive help still live as outcasts from their families or struggle to reintegrate as productive members of their community.

Last year, Allison Shigo and I decided to take action. We launched Healing Hands of Joy, a non-profit to help empower Ethiopian women who have suffered from fistula reclaim hope for their future, reintegrate back into their communities and receive basic maternal health care services for their needs. Our dream is to help eradicate this terrible affliction in Ethiopia, beginning with our pilot prevention project. Through this project, we will begin making motherhood safer by working with the Tigray Government Bureau of Health and training patients at the Mekelle Fistula Hospital. Please visit our website to find out more and see what you can do to help.

-Brett O’Donnell, Co-Founder, Healing Hands of Joy

One of my favorite parts of the conference was when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave the keynote address to the group. Secretary Clinton discussed the importance of development as part of our foreign policy, and noted that a sound foreign policy focuses on the three D’s: defense, diplomacy and development. Secretary Clinton stated that, “We believe by creating conditions that families and communities can thrive we can promote stability, opportunity and progress far beyond one community or even one country.” For me it’s really exciting that the Secretary of State has prioritized development and recognizes the links it has to our overall work around the world.

Check it out:

Secretary Clinton wasn’t the only person at the conference with experience as a first lady either. The first ladies of Mozambique, Sierra Leone and the wife of the Prime Minister of Kenya all participated in the conference as well. Women are agents of change and these first ladies are using their influence to push for advances in maternal health, women’s empowerment and girls’ education in their countries.

Overall I had an amazing experience at the CARE Conference and am reminded not only of the importance of fighting extreme poverty but also that there are so many other like-minded folks across the country working for the world’s poorest people.

He explains:

As a key component of President Obama’s Global Health Initiative (GHI), which explicitly embraces a woman- and girl-centered approach to health issues, PEPFAR is working to reaffirm and expand its focus on women and girls in the context of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. This $30 million initiative is one way that we are doing so.

PEPFAR’s increased GBV response will build upon the existing PEPFAR platforms in these three countries, working to increase the reach, coordination, and efficacy of GBV programs. Our hope is that this initiative will move us closer to our goal of sustainable GBV responses by moving small, pilot projects to tailored, coordinated and integrated national responses.

To ensure this, we will strengthen our current partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society in Mozambique, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as other countries in which we work. We will also support comprehensive GBV response packages for victims of violence at health facilities, increase GBV prevention programs to address the underlying causes of violence, and improve linkages with other sectors and addressing policy and address structural barriers. PEPFAR will partner with countries and build synergies both across U.S. Government agencies and other partners that focus on GBV-related development issues, such as education, reproductive health, democracy and governance, and economic growth. As we move to expand the reach of programs to fight gender-based violence, we will strengthen our monitoring and evaluation efforts to ensure that interventions implemented are effective and contribute to the broader global effort.

My mom is a dynamic woman who is spending her retirement years traveling, golfing and herding my father. She always reminded me of Rosalind Russell at her ‘My Girl Friday’ best. She was a working mother when it wasn’t common, thanks in large part to the support of her own mom. Then when my Gran fell and broke her hip, mom left work to care for her. Now in her 70s, she still wears her leather pants as she hits the auctions looking for great deals. I think my mom rules!

I doubt I’m alone. We likely all think our moms are pretty special and we appreciate their sacrifices and their support. This Mother’s Day, there’s a way to not only honor your own mother (or a special woman in your life), but to also help moms around the world.

At www.momsrule.org, send an e-card to your mom, grandma, sister, friend and thank her for all her love, support and sacrifice. You can also upload a picture and include a short comment or story to the ‘Momsaic,’ an online photo mosaic comprised of pictures of mothers and caregivers from around the world.

To further honor your mom and moms across the globe, you can also send an email to Prime Minister Harper or President Obama, urging them to make a commitment towards long-term funding that will help improve the health of mothers and children in some of the world’s poorest countries. Each year, nearly 9 million children under age 5 die from preventable causes and more than 340,000 mothers die from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. This doesn’t have to be the case.

I can’t wait to upload a picture of my mom and her leather pants. I will send her the e-card to thank her for being such a great mom. I know that she will be thrilled that in her name, an email will be sent to Prime Minister Harper about the maternal newborn and child health initiative.

Progress is being made to save these women and children, and when they survive, they contribute to a stronger, safer, more prosperous world. Our moms help us grow and learn to shape our own destinies. By honoring them, we can help moms around the world do the same for their own children.

-Cicely McWilliam, EVERY ONE Campaign Coordinator, Save the Children Canada