This has been a historic week for maternal health.

In response to the world’s alarming pregnancy and childbirth-related death rates, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spearheaded the Every Woman, Every Child Initiative last year that, to date, has saved the lives of more than 500,000 women and children across the globe.  The United Nations-led initiative is making it possible for more children around the world to celebrate their first birthdays.

“On that day, we said we would carry out commitments to improve women’s and children’s health. We said we would develop a framework to ensure accountability. We said we would work together to bring in new partners.  I am happy to say today, one year later, we are delivering on all three fronts,” the Secretary General stated during an event at the United Nations.

“The secrets of Every Woman, Every Child success is the commitment nations have made and the follow-through they have played in saving the lives of women and children,” said the President of the 66 th General Assembly, Mr. Nasr Abdul Aziz Al-Nasser, at the High-Level meeting.

More than 100 new partners, including governments, civil society and multilateral organizations, joined the cause in just the last year, bringing the total to more than 200 since the effort was launched.  The health of women and children is at the heart of the Millennium Development Goals  and Every Woman, Every Child aims to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.

Merck & Co. Inc. also announced that it will spend a half-billion dollars over the next decade to reduce deaths from pregnancy and childbirth through vaccinations to prevent, treat, and diagnose the top three causes of death in pregnant women.

“We believe that a woman should not have to risk her life in order to give life,” the CEO of Merck, Mr. Kenneth Frazier, said at the event.

TAKE ACTION: Help women and children around the world by signing up to join the Million Moms Challenge! For the first 100,000 sign ups, Johnson & Johnson will donate a dollar to organizations supporting moms and children in the developing world.