Working for Women Worldwide - Embassy of the United States

Ensuring Healthy Lives
for Women
Afghan women look over one of
the lessons in the interactive Afghan
Family Health Book.
When women are healthy, their children,
families, and communities thrive. It is also
the case that countries that assure the
health and human rights of women have
Ostronger economies.
In many areas of the world, however, women suffer
from poor nutrition and are at greater risk of diseases,
such as HIV/AIDS and complications related to
pregnancy and delivery—problems that even could
result in death.
In many of these cases, the international community
knows what is needed to reduce these afflictions.
What is often lacking is the will and, in many cases,
adequate health-care resources for women.
This is why the United States is at the vanguard
of developing global, bilateral, and local health-related
programs and remedies and why it supports international
efforts to improve the health of women around
the world, as well.
The U.S. government is, for example, the world’s
largest bilateral contributor of reproductive health
assistance, including for voluntary family planning and
maternal health care. The U.S. government provides
approximately $500 million annually for such programs.
All of this funding directly serves women in
more than 60 countries.
An example of the Bush administration’s bilateral
focus on improving women’s health globally is a
half-million-dollar initiative announced by First Lady
Laura Bush in May 2004 for women in Hungary. A
grant from the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) will enable the American
International Health Alliance, a nongovernmental
organization, to develop community-based programs
that address their particular needs.
U.S. programs are helping to respond to critical
problems such as the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among
women and maternal mortality, concerns shared by
the United Nations.
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