This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

Speech of the First Lady of Republic of Bolivia, Virginia Gillum De Quiroga

To the meeting: Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies

I want to begin this session on a personal level. Just for a minute lets forget all of the numbers and concentrate on the faces, I'd like to begin with Lupe's story because it is the one that taught me the most.

Lupe is the daughter of my nanny, Cristina, who has been with me for ten years. As a teen Lupe would come to my house and spend the afternoons playing with my kids. I worried about her when she was sick, cheered when she finished high school and went on to secretarial school and got after her when she became pregnant without being married. But even after all that history with Lupe and Cristina, neither one came to me when I was needed most.

Lupe's water broke in her eighth month and her contractions came right away. She checked into a private clinic thinking that the service would be a little better than in the public hospital down the street. She called her mom to be with her. The entire day passed and I didn't hear from either one so I began to worry and started making some calls.

When I finally got a hold of them they were crying and very scared. Although the bag was broken the doctor on duty told Lupe that it was too early for her to have the baby and that she would need to drink lots of water to refill the bag. He also told her the pains she was feeling were from indigestion and not contractions and that she would have to wait a week to have her baby.

As a mother of four even I could tell by the description of the pains that she was in full labour and I also knew that a broken bag could cause infection. I rushed to the hospital and physically carried Lupe out of this sorry excuse for a hospital and deposited her in one that I trusted, where after a sonogram we found out that the baby was in distress and that because of a heart condition that Lupe suffered from, would need to be taken by caesarean immediately. I am now the proud godmother of Lupe's beautiful baby, but the scare from her experience left me very shaken about the real reason that so many babies and mothers die.

Shortly after the incident I spoke to Cristina about what happened. I asked her why she didn't call for help when all this happened and she told me she didn't want to bother me. It made me think about all the times I called my gynaecologist when I was pregnant for the silliest reasons. Then I asked Cristina why after having five children herself didn't she argue with the doctor when he told Lupe to drink water to refill her bag. All she could say was he's the doctor.

Lupe and her baby almost died, not because of lack of prenatal care or poor nutrition, not because she decided to give birth at home without proper care, not even because of complications during the birth. They almost died from a lack of self-esteem.

Before we start our discussions today I would like to leave a thought with everyone here. It is obvious to all of us who have been working in the area of maternal and infant mortality that education is one of the most important ways to save lives, what is not always so obvious is the reason behind the education.

I am convinced, that if we do not focus our education from the beginning on building self-esteem, and that if we do not ensure that every mother will feel the right that is God given to make decisions and ask questions concerning her and her babies health, then all of the other measures and interventions (the easier ones, the more measurable ones) that we are spending millions of dollars and millions of hours on, will only scratch the surface when it comes to saving these priceless lives. Education and motherhood guidance will do more for children then all the money in the world will ever do.

Bolivia like many of the countries represented here today is filled with people that don't believe they are worth saving. I don't know about you but I think we need to set the record straight. Every life is priceless, every life has endless potential to cure cancer, stop war or end hunger.

Our time today will be spend well listening to different experiences and hearing about successes and failures from many different countries. I only have two requests. First, that each of you remember Lupe and her need to believe she's worth it.

And second, if we leave today and begin our struggles of tomorrow without understanding that each of us can do better to save women and babies then we have failed by default.

If on the other hand we leave here today, and take with us a personal commitment to keep the next person from dying and learn from each death then each new life that is taken will have meant something and each new plan put in place using the collective knowledge offered at this table today will mean one new life loved by one mother who will change the world in one small way.

New York, May 8, 2002