The cost of doing nothing
In recent years, the world has reduced preventable child deaths by 4 million a year. But 7 million children still die from preventable causes annually, and little progress has been made in the death rate of newborn babies and their mothers from the strains of childbirth. Experts speaking at The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) on Tuesday pinpointed childbirth as an area bypassed by recent efforts to improve health outcomes among children. Progress has lagged despite the fact that health care systems in the developed world routinely keep women and children safe during delivery. Ninety-nine percent of deaths among women in childbirth occur in poor countries. Those stark statistics are an indication of the low status of women in those countries, according to Harvard School of Public Health Dean Julio Frenk. Frenk was on a panel discussing the “The Cost of Inaction: The Consequences of Failing the World’s Children.” The...