Urge Our Senators to Support the Reach Every Mother and Child Act

From ELCA Advocacy (https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Publicly-Engaged-Church/Advocacy):

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation to reduce the number of child and maternal deaths globally. Led by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Chris Coons (D-DE), the Reach Every Mother and Child Act (S. 1766) calls for key reforms to strengthen existing child and maternal programs administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Urge Senators Casey and Toomey to support the Reach Every Mother and Child Act at https://support.elca.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1183.

Since 1990, mortality rates of mothers and children under the age of five have been cut by more than half. Progress has largely been achieved using simple solutions and proven, inexpensive interventions to address leading causes of death, including diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition and complications during pregnancy and birth. Nonetheless, over 5 million children and 295,000 women die yearly from preventable causes, with the majority of deaths occurring in low income countries.

The U.S. government has led global efforts to tackle preventable causes of death in children under-five years old for the past two decades. These efforts include providing financial and technical assistance to low income countries with high incidents of under-five deaths, as well as mobilizing other donor countries to do the same. In 2014, the U.S. declared ending preventable child and maternal deaths around the world is a national priority.

The Reach Every Mother and Child Act would require the U.S. government to establish and implement a five-year, whole-of-government strategy as a contribution towards the U.N. global Sustainable Development Goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths by 2030. It would also institute strong reporting requirements to enhance transparency and accountability of USAID child and maternal health programs. Furthermore, the bill directs USAID to increase access, use evidence-based health interventions and utilize existing financial resources innovatively to achieve optimal results.

“The Christian Church is called to be an active participant in fashioning a just and effective health care system. Responding to those who were sick was integral to the life and ministry of Jesus and has been a central aspect of the Church’s mission throughout its history,” reads the ELCA social statement, Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor (page 2). This priority is demonstrated by Lutheran social ministry organizations both here at home and abroad which continue to provide healthcare—including child and maternal services to those in need of it. Our government has a key role to play towards reaching these goals and can do more to realize them.

Please urge our senators to support this legislation.