How to Save Nearly 10 Million Lives

May 4th, 2010

G8 Nations Should Each Champion One of the Key Inputs in Primary Care

“Time is running out for the world’s most powerful nations to articulate a plan of action that will reduce the horrific loss of more than 340,000 women and the nine million children who die every year from entirely preventable or treatable causes,” said Dr. Keith Martin, Member of Parliament for Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca.

Dr. Martin is in Vancouver today attending the world’s largest meeting of pediatric academic researchers as part of the Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting.

Although it is deeply regrettable that Canada’s International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda confirmed at the G8 meeting in Halifax last week that the Canadian government would not fund access to abortion as part of its plan to reduce maternal mortality, there is still a way forward to implement a plan that will save lives.

“In order to get the job done, each G8 nation should take a leadership role in one of the key inputs needed to provide primary care in developing countries. For example, the Americans could be the lead country in training health care workers, Canada could take the lead on access to clean water and sanitation or food security and micronutrients, and the French could champion people’s access to a full array of family planning options, including access to safe abortions in countries where it is legal. In this way G8 nations could coordinate their efforts with each other, with recipient nations, NGOs, foundations, and large multi-lateral organizations,” said Dr. Martin.

Enabling people to access primary care will not only address the five major obstetric complications that cause the vast majority of maternal deaths and disabilities (obstructed labour, haemorrhage, sepsis, eclampsia, and as a consequence of a septic abortion), it also provides the tools to treat 80 per cent of the problems that come through an emergency department. This includes the world’s major killers: pneumonia, gastroenteritis, malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS.

In the developing world, an unconscionable nine million children perish each year before their fifth birthday from entirely preventable or treatable causes. The often simple and inexpensive medical interventions needed to save these children’s lives have been known for decades. The challenge is to move these discoveries to the communities and to the patient’s bedside.

“This summer, the G8 leaders have an opportunity to create the most profound impact on the health and economic future of the world’s poorest people by bridging this gap between knowledge and action. The absence of a plan and the politicization of this issue over the last several months must not detract us from taking the lead and saving these people’s lives,” said Dr. Martin.