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Maternal Health Leaders Celebrate Pulitzer Prize Winners

Washington, DC - Mothers Day Every Day: The Campaign for Healthy Moms and Newborns, co-founded by CARE and the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) last week celebrated Pulitzer Prize winners and co-authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn with a shared call to accelerate progress toward saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and babies at risk during pregnancy and childbirth and to overcome our era's most pervasive human rights violation, the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. 

Prominent leaders from government, advocacy and the media attended the reception on Thursday, organized by Mothers Day Every Day in partnership with Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women initiative, which featured Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn to celebrate their new book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, released the same day. 

Reducing global maternal and newborn mortality, one of four main strategies outlined in Half the Sky for empowering women and unleashing their economic and social potential, was the primary focus of the event.  Progress is being made to save the lives of  women and newborns by increasing women's access to quality health care, yet every minute somewhere in the world a woman still dies in pregnancy or childbirth.  Most of those deaths could be prevented.

Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn were joined on stage by JoDee Winterhof, CARE VP of Policy and Advocacy; Theresa Shaver, WRA president; and Jérémie Zoungrana, National Advisor to White Ribbon Alliances in Burkina Faso and Rwanda.  Tammy Haddad, president of Haddad Media, Mothers Day Every Day Advisory Committee member and host of the reception, emceed the event. Guests emphasized that throughout much of the world, the greatest untapped economic resource is the female half of the population and the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential, starting with a healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth.

"Now increasingly I think [investing in] the role of women is also seen not only as a good thing to do, but as a security issue as well as an economic issue," said Nicholas Kristof. "All of these things are coming together, making it the time to address this truly as the cause of our time." 

Founded by the White Ribbon Alliance and CARE, Mothers Day Every Day is raising awareness and advocating for greater U.S. leadership to improve pre-natal health and reduce maternal mortality. The bold but achievable aim of Mothers Day Every Day is to generate the political will and action toward the key Millennium Development Goal of reducing maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 through greater U.S. leadership and investments in proven, low-cost interventions.
 
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Contact:

Deb Clark 
White Ribbon Alliance 
202-679-2399
dclark@whiteribbonalliance.org 

Nolu Crockett-Ntonga 
CARE USA
202-595-2806 or 301-219-1969
nntonga@care.org

If you'd like more information about the Mothers Day Every Day campaign,
please visit www.mothersdayeveryday.org

About the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA):
The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is the only global organization dedicated solely to save the lives of women and newborns who die for lack of basic health care.  With members in 142 countries, and affiliated National Alliances in 14 - Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania Uganda, Yemen and Zambia - WRA is uniting people from all walks of life to advocate for changes and investments to ensure every woman's access to quality health care before, during and after childbirth.  For more information, please go to www.whiteribbonalliance.org.

About CARE:
Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Working side by side with poor people in more than 65 countries, CARE helps empower communities to address the greatest threats to their survival. Women are at the heart of CARE's efforts to improve health, education and economic development because experience shows that a woman's achievements yield dramatic benefits for her entire family. CARE is also committed to providing lifesaving assistance during times of crisis, and helping rebuild safer, stronger communities afterward. We advocate for policies that defend the dignity of all people and promote the eradication of poverty. Get involved at www.care.org.