Preempting the Need to Repair: Toward a Comprehensive U.S. Policy on Obstetric Fistula

After decades of taking a backseat to other more visible global health problems, the issue of maternal health has finally captured the attention of the world's policymakers. A major breakthrough came in 2000, when 189 countries adopted eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) designed to reduce global poverty and support development. Improving maternal health was designated as MDG 5, and it includes the specific targets of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by three-fourths and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015. It was not until this year, however, that serious focus on and commitments to maternal health have taken a center stage in actual global health efforts. In June, leaders of the richest countries decided at the G-8 summit in Canada to prioritize investments in maternal, newborn and child health in the group's development agenda. The G-8 countries committed $5 billion over the next five years to these efforts, complemented by another $2.3 billion pledge by private foundations led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other nations not in the G-8.