May, 2012

Last week, the maternal health community received some positive news. According to a new report released by the World Health Organization, the number of women who died from pregnancy and childbirth complications dropped to 287,000 in 2010 -- a steep decline from the 358,000 maternal deaths reported in 2008. This progress is a testament to the committed actions of the maternal health community. However, these latest statistics also point to the fact that much work lies ahead. The world is still far off track to meet UN Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5), which calls for a 75 percent reduction in the maternal mortality rate by 2015.

Her piercing cries are deafening. The midwives shake their heads in warning as I head towards the woman in the corner of the room. Her back is to me. She is on her knees in an awkward split, one knee hanging off the side of the delivery bed. Her hands hold tightly to the top of the bed. She is naked, her filthy clothes scattered on the floor around her. I gently take her arm and try and help her.

As an alternative to the traditional Mother’s Day celebration, our No Mothers Day campaign garnered significant press across a variety of different outlets including national broadcast, fashion publications, business/tech, lifestyle, mom bloggers and so on. The idea behind No Mothers Day was to ask mothers across the country to “disappear” for the day in solidarity with at-risk women around the world. Our hope was that doing so on Mother’s Day—the one day when people think about mothers the most—would show others just how much a mother is missed when she is gone. While the campaign garnered its share of critiques and questions, we started a national conversation about the hundreds of thousands of women who die as a result of complications in pregnancy and childbirth each year. A sample of the key media hits is below:

Every Mother Counts partnered with Starbucks on a second-annual compilation CD, which began selling the week before Mother's Day. It quickly became Starbucks’ top seller with over 22,000 CDs already sold. It is currently sold out on-line but is still available at Starbucks retail stores.