Maternal Health Workshop at Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Healthy Families, Healthy Planet will be hosting a workshop on maternal health at the 9th annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), which will take place in Washington, DC on March 25-28, 2011. Sponsored by the ecumenical Christian community, EAD brings advocates together to mobilize for action on Capitol Hill. The theme of this year's conference is Development, Security & Economic Justice: What’s Gender Got to Do with It?

Maternal health is crucial component of development. Motherhood is dangerous in the developing world, where every 90 seconds a woman dies of complications during pregnancy or childbirth. That's nearly a thousand women dying every single day. But these deaths are not inevitable. Most of them could be prevented if all women had access to comprehensive medical care and family planning services. Millennium Development Goal #5—to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality by 75%--is lagging behind. Both the immediate and rippling effects of these deaths impact not only the health of families, but also the economic health of communities that lose the contributions of these women.

Katey Zeh, coordinator of Healthy Families, Healthy Planet, and Linda Bales Todd, director of the Louise & Hugh Moore Population Project for the General Board of Church & Society, will co-lead the workshop,"Maternal Health and Millennium Development Goal 5: How Can the Church Respond?" The focus will be on identifying the barriers to achieving better maternal health worldwide and how churches are responding. Participants will hear maternal health stories from the Global South and learn ways to advocate for maternal health in their congregations and denominations.

To learn more about Ecumenical Advocacy Days and to register, please visit the EAD website.