Working for Women Worldwide - Embassy of the United States

Health: Prevention and
Treatment Worldwide
Being safe from violence is as critical as good
health if women and their children are to lead productive
and satisfying lives. As First Lady Laura Bush
said, “Studies throughout the world show that
women’s health and the opportunities they have in life
are directly related to the strength of a country’s economy
and the level of education attained by its children.”
The section on health points to the fact that the
largest share of the billions of dollars in aid we commit
to the global advance of human rights goes to women’s
health and related needs. The U.S. government provides
approximately $500 million annually for maternal
and child health care and family planning support
in more than 60 countries. Hundreds of millions of
dollars more have gone to providing vaccinations, food
aid, agriculture subsidies, and humanitarian assistance
where they are very much needed.
Perhaps the greatest human tragedy affecting
women today is HIV/AIDS. Over half of the 42 million
people living with HIV/AIDS are women. Over
two million HIV-positive women give birth each year,
transmitting the disease to more than 700,000 infants.
Most of these children die before their fifth birthday.
President Bush responded to this tragedy in his
first term. He made preventing mother-to-child
transmission of HIV infection a major priority. To
date, $288 million have been appropriated for this
effort alone. The United States, through the president’s
five-year, $15-billion Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief, is working to prevent millions of new HIV
infections while providing care and anti-retroviral
treatment to millions of people living with the disease,
including AIDS orphans, in the most affected countries
in Africa and the Caribbean.
Another problem is maternal mortality. Each
year more than 500,000 women, most of whom live in
developing countries, die because of complications of
pregnancy and childbirth. A majority of these deaths
are preventable. Access to medical facilities, skilled
birth attendants, antibiotics, or other currently available
technologies would substantially reduce instances
of maternal mortality. Successful programs of
American medical specialists in Indonesia and
Guatemala, for example, are proving this point. That’s
why the United States has initiated a $5-million program
to help reduce maternal mortality by training
midwives.
Ending female genital cutting, a harmful and
repressive practice with the potential of severe physical
and psychological consequences, is another issue of
importance to the health of women and girls in many
parts of the world. USAID funds local organizations’
efforts to end this practice.
These are just a few of the ways the United States
promotes the advancement of women. This publication
offers an array of examples, including what we are
doing for women here in the United States. There is
so much more the United States is doing that I
encourage you to explore the resources listed in the
back of this book, and then search U.S. government
web sites. We also have included an appendix with
links to many of the more recent statements made by
U.S. government officials regarding the needs of
women.
Through all of these resources, it should be clear
that the United States strongly believes the liberty and
equality of women in every aspect of life is fundamental
to stable, prosperous, and peaceful societies. It is
also clear that, over the past decade, the Beijing conference
has brought heightened worldwide attention to
women’s issues, which is having profound effects in
both the developed and the developing world. The
United States is enthusiastically committed to helping
women everywhere influence their countries’ pace and
priorities for development and achieve their full inclusion
in society. We will continue to do this through
bilateral programs like those described in this publication;
we also will continue to do it through our generous
contributions to international organizations like
the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United
Nations, the World Health Organization, and
UNESCO.
As new challenges emerge, women everywhere
should know that the United States will continue to be
their advocate, remaining in the forefront of efforts to
help them help themselves, and their families and
communities, to attain a better future.
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