Tell Bush to Help Lift Millions of Women and Children Out of Poverty

Every minute, one woman dies in childbirth, 20 children die of starvation and two women die from AIDS. These are needless, preventable and unacceptable deaths.

Women and children disproportionately bear the weight of extreme poverty around the world. In many countries, women are routinely denied access to resources and even the most basic education, making it virtually impossible for them to adequately provide for their children and themselves.

Five years ago, all 189 members of the United Nations agreed to eight Millennium Development Goals, which set 15-year targets for, among other things, eradicating extreme poverty, enrolling every child in primary school, empowering women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. Meeting these goals, all nations agreed, requires a global partnership between countries both rich and poor.

On Sept. 14-16, the leaders of some 170 nations will gather in New York City for the World Summit, where they will take stock of their progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Time is running out. Many nations have made significant strides -- Tanzania now offers free primary education to all, Uganda reversed the spread of AIDS and Bangladesh narrowed the gender gap in school attendance. But without bold U.S. leadership to achieve the goals by the 2015 deadline, many countries will fall short of the targets.

Urge President Bush to demonstrate U.S. leadership by playing an active role at the Summit and reaffirming America's commitment to doing our part to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Please join Mercy Corps and the ONE Campaign in our fight to overcome extreme poverty around the world. Now is the time to lend your voice to this historic effort.