Nancy A. Aossey, President & CEO of International Medical Corps and Heidi Murkoff, creator of the What To Expect pregnancy and parenting brand, announced Monday a Commitment to Action to address the high mortality rate of women due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. The announcement was made at the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York City.
Over the next two years, International Medical Corps in partnership with Murkoff and What to Expect, will provide training, education, supplies, resources and other health and health-related investments to help an additional 125,000 women in countries from around the world have healthier pregnancies, safer deliveries, and healthier babies. Currently, approximately 800 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth complications. A vast majority of these deaths are preventable.
“A healthy mom and healthy pregnancy can impact a child’s health for a lifetime – yet pregnancy and childbirth can be perilous for too many moms and babies. That’s unacceptable,” said Murkoff. “No woman should die giving life – every mom deserves a healthy pregnancy, a safe delivery, and a healthy, happy baby. Our combined decades of experience will help International Medical Corps and What To Expect empower moms-to-be, giving them the vital care, support, and knowledge they need to make that goal a reality – because our collective future depends on the health and well-being of the world’s moms and babies.”
“Heidi has been a powerful advocate for mothers and fathers around the world. With her inspiring leadership and this partnership, we will be better able to reduce the threats of death, injury, disease and infection to women during or after pregnancy,” said Aossey. “This commitment will allow us to further build an international cadre of trained midwives, equip facilities and provide community outreach and education programs to women and families to better prepare them for healthy pregnancies. It is yet another example of how CGI’s extraordinary platform brings together like-minded organizations such as ours in order to amplify our ability to address global health challenges.”
Aossey and Murkoff announced their commitment at the CGI “Survive and Thrive” discussion session on Monday, September 28.