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September 28, 2015 – Los Angeles – Nancy A. Aossey, President & CEO of International Medical Corps and Heidi Murkoff, creator of the What To Expect pregnancy and parenting brand, announced Monday a Commitment to Action to address the high mortality rate of women due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. The announcement was made at the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in New York City.
Over the next two years, International Medical Corps in partnership with Murkoff and What to Expect, will provide training, education, supplies, resources and other health and health-related investments to help an additional 125,000 women in countries from around the world have healthier pregnancies, safer deliveries, and healthier babies. Currently, approximately 800 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth complications. A vast majority of these deaths are preventable.
“A healthy mom and healthy pregnancy can impact a child's health for a lifetime - yet pregnancy and childbirth can be perilous for too many moms and babies. That's unacceptable,” said Murkoff. “No woman should die giving life – every mom deserves a healthy pregnancy, a safe delivery, and a healthy, happy baby. Our combined decades of experience will help International Medical Corps and What To Expect empower moms-to-be, giving them the vital care, support, and knowledge they need to make that goal a reality - because our collective future depends on the health and wellbeing of the world's moms and babies.”
“Heidi has been a powerful advocate for mothers and fathers around the world. With her inspiring leadership and this partnership, we will be better able to reduce the threats of death, injury, disease and infection to women during or after pregnancy,” said Aossey. “This commitment will allow us to further build an international cadre of trained midwives, equip facilities and provide community outreach and education programs to women and families to better prepare them for healthy pregnancies. It is yet another example of how CGI’s extraordinary platform brings together like-minded organizations such as ours in order to amplify our ability to address global health challenges.”
Aossey and Murkoff announced their commitment at the CGI “Survive and Thrive” discussion session on Monday, September 28.
About International Medical Corps
Since its inception more than 30 years ago, International Medical Corps’ mission has been consistent: relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural disaster and disease, by delivering vital health care services that focus on training. This approach of helping people help themselves is critical to returning devastated populations to self-reliance. International Medical Corps has delivered more than $2 billion in humanitarian relief and training in 70 countries since 1984. Today its global staff of 7,800 provides assistance to devastated communities in the world’s hardest-hit areas, from Syria to Sierra Leone, Iraq to Afghanistan. For more information visit: www.InternationalMedicalCoprs.org. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
About What to Expect
What to Expect is the world's best-known and best-loved pregnancy and parenting brand. The internationally bestselling What to Expect series, which began with the iconic What To Expect When You're Expecting, has sold 40 million copies in over 30 languages. In 2005 the brand expanded online with WhatToExpect.com, home to a close-knit community of 11 million moms and the world's most popular pregnancy app. Author and creator Heidi Murkoff's passionate commitment to moms and babies led to the creation of the What to Expect Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to helping every mom expect a healthier pregnancy and a healthier, happier baby. The Foundation employs the latest evidence-based strategies in the fields of health, education, literacy and communication to teach healthcare providers how to recognize if their patients do not understand health messages, and to give them tools and training to overcome those obstacles.
About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,200 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries. In addition to the Annual Meeting, CGI convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States; and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. This year, CGI also convened CGI Middle East & Africa, which brought together leaders across sectors to take action on pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. For more information, visitclintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative
