Gates demands health investments to save two million babies

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said the world has collectively failed halfway to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Gates Foundation revealed this in its seventh annual goaltending report released Tuesday.

The report notes that innovation and investment can fuel progress, particularly in tackling the global epidemic of maternal and child mortality.

Co-authored by Foundation Co-Chairs Melinda Gates and Bill Gates, the report highlights new data that shows the potential to expand global access to seven innovations and practices that are attack the main causes of maternal and neonatal mortality. death.

“By making new innovations accessible to those who need them most, two million additional lives could be saved by 2030 and 6.4 million lives by 2040. This represents two million families spared from unimaginable heartbreak and two million more people able to shape and enrich our world,” they said.

Since 2016, progress in reducing global maternal mortality has stalled and in some countries, including the United States, mortality rates have steadily increased.

Around the world, nearly 800 women die in childbirth every day. Although deaths of children under five have continued to decline since the mid-2010s, the first month of a newborn's life remains the most dangerous, now accounting for nearly half of all deaths of children under five. An estimated 74% of child deaths occur during a baby's first year of life.

French Gates and Gates acknowledged global efforts between 2000 and 2015 that significantly improved the health of mothers and babies, but stressed that progress has stalled since the COVID-19 pandemic .

They explained how the discovery of groundbreaking information on maternal and child health over the past 10 years has led to low-cost, easy-to-implement innovations and practices that prevent and treat life-threatening complications of childbirth such as post-delivery complications. -hemorrhages during childbirth, infections and maternal anemia.

They, however, call for immediate action to help put the world back on track to meet the global goal of reducing the maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 births and mortality neonatal at 12 percent deaths. 1,000 live births by 2030.

“As is so often the case in global health, innovations are not reaching the people who need them most: women in low-income countries, as well as black and indigenous women in high-income countries. -income countries like the United States, who die three times faster than white women. This needs to change,” French Gates said. “We have seen time and time again that when countries prioritize and invest in women's health, they unleash a powerful engine of progress that can reduce poverty, advance gender equality and build economies resilient.

“Over the past decade, the field of children's health has advanced faster and further than I ever expected in my lifetime,” said Bill Gates. “If our services can keep pace with our learning – if researchers can continue to develop new innovations and if skilled health workers can pass them on to every mother and child who needs them – then more babies will survive those crucial first days. »

They say many of the life-saving innovations and practices highlighted in the report can be implemented by midwives and birth attendants in communities.

Innovations include: “A package of interventions that can reduce postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death, by 60% for less than $1 per package is Bifidobacteria (B. Infantis), a new probiotic supplement that, when given to an infant along with breast milk, combats malnutrition, a leading cause of newborn death.

“Multiple micronutrient supplements that increase baby survival rates by helping to replenish nutrient stores in pregnant women and ensuring these essential nutrients are transferred to the baby.

“A new, unique IV iron infusion for women that replenishes iron stores during pregnancy, protecting and treating anemia, a condition that is both a cause and effect of postpartum hemorrhage and which affects almost 37% of women. percent of pregnant women. Prenatal corticosteroids, which are given to women who will give birth prematurely, to accelerate fetal lung growth, providing several weeks of maturation in just a few days. Azithromycin, which reduces maternal infections during pregnancy and prevents infections from progressing to sepsis (the cause of 23% of maternal deaths in the United States) and reduces mortality when given to infants in high-mortality settings .

“An AI-powered wearable ultrasound machine that enables nurses and midwives to monitor high-risk pregnancies in low-resource settings to ensure risks are diagnosed...