Empowering women, promoting women's health strengthens international community

"As we honor the enormous impact women have on their families and communities worldwide, we also call on lawmakers to do more for global maternal and newborn health," Former White House Press Secretaries Mike McCurry and Dana Perino write in a post in The Hill's "Congress Blog," marking International Women's Day, which was celebrated on Thursday. "When we reach out with simple interventions to promote health and save women's lives, we build international allies for life," they write.

"Let's remember that today, on this International Women's Day 2012, some 1,000 women around the world will die in pregnancy or childbirth, and 99 percent of those deaths will occur in developing countries. ... Together we can change the course of these preventable deaths and create a stronger, healthier, more productive global community," they continue, concluding, "When we travel throughout Africa and beyond, we see first-hand the influence an empowered woman can have on those around her. These brave women have consistently inspired us. We, as Americans, must rise up and meet these women's courage with policy actions of our own" (3/8).