Death of newborns due to poverty

I was recently on the Fox News website and stumbled across the article, "Report: 2 Million Babies and Mothers Die at Birth Worldwide". At the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics World Congress, a study was launched surveying the death of infants and mothers. Among the researchers were The Gates Foundation, Johns Hopkins University, and Save the Children. The report released on Tuesday verified that "More than 1 million babies are stillborn and another 904,000 die soon after birth." South Asia and Africa lead the death toll by accounting for over 75%, "outnumbering child deaths from malaria and HIV/AIDS worldwide." The report determined that poverty plays a large roll in the death of these children. In countries that are more prosperous, most women give birth in hospitals with doctors or a "skilled attendant" present. However in poorer countries, giving birth in a hospital is a luxury. "Each year 60 million of the world's 136 million births occur outside health facilities while only one out of every five babies born in African hospitals are cared for by skilled staff." The report communicated that the death toll could be greatly decreased with "improvements in basic health care and training for local health care workers to perform emergency Cesarean deliveries and other lifesaving techniques." At the September UN General Assembly, various world leaders committed $5.3 billion for "maternal and child care". Hopefully this large sum of money will provide many more trained physicians in these poorer countries. I think it's great that there are so many world leaders interested in aiding countries that are much less fortunate. I'm not sure if America is one of the countries who has committed money, but I think that if we can spend so much money on a war, we can surely spend money on saving lives. Also, although $5.3 billion sounds like a lot of money, training people in the medical field can be very expensive, so the money may not go as far as you think. I believe that this a great start, but eventually more money will need to be set aside for this cause. If you'd like to read the article in its entirety, go to http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,561020,00.html