In the four minutes it will take you to read this, eight infants will die at birth, and two young mothers will die giving birth. Every year in our world another 300,000 women die in childbirth. That very special day when a young mother performs the most selfless, loving and heroic act possible by giving life to her child turns suddenly to a day of tragedy.

One million infants die on their very first day, and more than twice that many will die in their first month. Each of these deaths then reverberates in expanding rings of tragedy to their families, their villages, their tribes and their countries. That loss and hopelessness and anger have ripple effects even felt around the world.

The worst part is that these tragedies could have been prevented — even easily prevented. In fact, maternal and infant deaths have been decreased by half in the past 25 years. We know what works. We have the simple but life-saving techniques and outreach that can save these lives. A little knowledge and simple tools in the hands of the local midwife can save these mothers and their precious newborns.

I have been a pediatrician for over 30 years and I have had the heady privilege of having been called on to attend several hundred deliveries of infants who were at risk. While a few of those infants required all of the high-tech services of a modern hospital, most only required simple interventions. By simply clearing the airway, appropriately positioning, stimulating, drying and warming them, most of these distressed infants immediately improve. Most don’t require prolonged intervention, just a minute or two of simple care. They then proceed to continue getting better themselves, and no longer need anything special, just routine care.

Likewise, a woman giving birth in a village hut does not need prolonged care. She does not require that we fix her life, alleviate her poverty or build her a hospital. She simply needs a few hours of knowledgeable care and simple tools. She does not need a long-term handout, but a simple hand up on her day of giving birth. The U.S. and other developed nations are already helping, but we must reach more villages in more poor countries. We must do more, we can do more and we know it is possible.

Many of the world’s problems seem unsolvable, but this one we have the power to solve. The U.S. must lead these efforts. On July 30, Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced bipartisan legislation. The Reach Every Mother And Child Act of 2015 will improve and streamline the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the ambitious goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths around the world by 2035.

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This bill is not about spending more but about making our dollars more effective: focusing on those most in need, partnering with other countries by aligning our aid with their own maternal and child health plans and improving that care while making the USAID both more transparent and quicker in response to needs.

Please contact Sens. Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch and your representative (remember that they work for you) and urge them to support this bill.

Is one child’s life worth an e-mail? Is saving the lives of 600,000 mothers and 15 million children just over the next five years worth a phone call?

William Cosgrove is president of the Utah chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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