genconnect: Christy Turlington Burns Fights for Maternal Health (VIDEO)

I think once I became aware of that, I had to understand why — what was happening, why were women dying in childbirth — and I just started to feel really blessed I had been in the right place in the right time with access to the kind of care that I needed.

“I think once I became aware of that, I had to understand why — what was happening, why were women dying in childbirth — and I just started to feel really blessed I had been in the right place in the right time with access to the kind of care that I needed and that really, ultimately, is what separates us,” Turlington Burns says of her post-childbirth experience. “There’s huge disparities in healthcare all over the world.”

With this in mind, Turlington Burns made a documentary exploring barriers to care for women all over the world, entitled “No Woman, No Cry,” which led to the 2010 launch of Every Mother Counts. The organization started as a resource to educate and support mothers and those interested in maternal health and mortality and to not only present the challenges in this area, but offer possible solutions, as well as ways to get involved.

“How could I not give them opportunities to engage if this subject matter moved them?” Turlington Burns says.

genConnect was credentialed press at BlogHer ’12 in New York, NY, where we video interviewed the premier speakers and attendees. To see more of our video interviews and articles from BlogHer ’12, click here.