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World Health Day 2008   
April 7, 2008—Here in the United States, there is a lot of talk about health care from the three remaining candidates for the U.S. presidency. Their competing plans to give coverage to America’s 48 million uninsured are getting much media coverage and public attention. But World Health Day (April 7) offers the chance to broaden the debate. A new president taking office in 2009 could change the world for the people most in need of better health care—the world’s women, especially its young women. Every minute of every day, a woman still dies somewhere from pregnancy-related causes. That’s half a million deaths a year, ten million per generation, and 99 percent occur in the developing world. In the United States, maternal mortality is a rarity. Here, most women routinely have access to reproductive health care that includes family planning and education; skilled care during labor and delivery; and emergency obstetric care such as caesarean section. In the developing world, these simple things are too often unavailable. High fertility, poor nutrition, bad roads, poverty, illiteracy and gender inequality conspire to make pregnancy a dangerous condition for too many of the world’s women. But committed leaders can work wonders.
In Afghanistan, for example, CEDPA alumna Dr. Massouda Jalal, a former minister of women’s affairs and the first woman to run for president there, set up the Jalal Foundation to educate and empower Afghan women by building their capacity to lead, to see what they need in order to be healthy, and to press for changes that will stop so many needless maternal deaths. Olayinka Jegede-Ekpe, another veteran of that CEDPA program, made headlines at the age of 19 by becoming the first woman in Nigeria to publicly reveal that she was HIV-positive. She set up the AIDS Alliance there to give young people the knowledge, skills and self-confidence to work against the stigma that drives the infection’s spread, and encourages mothers. As secretary of the National AIDS Commission in Indonesia, CEDPA alumna Dr. Nafsiah Mboi works to combat the gender inequality that puts women at risk for HIV infection because of their inability to negotiate condom use with their partners, and a poor economy that has driven many poor women to prostitution. Advancing health care, in other words, involves much more than seeing a doctor. It requires a broad range of interventions, including education and the empowerment of women. The new U.S. president might consider the first step toward better global health in terms of CEDPA’s BLOOM program. The Better Life Options and Opportunities Model improves the educational and health outcomes of young girls and boys by providing them with the knowledge and skills to make informed choices about their futures, including their reproductive health.
In Egypt, 77,000 girls and 17,000 boys had literacy and vocational training along with family life education on the benefits of ending female genital cutting and broadening girls’ life choices. In South Africa, young girls got training in ways to protect themselves against HIV, unintended pregnancy and sexual violence. BLOOM is adapted to address local conditions and to respond to local concerns, and implemented with local community organizations, parents and often religious leaders. Since 1975, CEDPA has demonstrated that achieving gender equality is essential for development, democracy and social progress. The global health agenda is daunting, but focusing on improving women’s health would pay off in every way: stronger families and communities, greater productivity and faster economic growth. World Health Day is an opportunity for America’s next president to lead in making that commitment. Learn more about CEDPA’s alumni and programs. |
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