Only investment 'can remove barriers to women's health development'

Investments in women's health are crucial for humanity's future, a US congresswoman has said.

Writing for The Hill, Rosa DeLauro, member of the House Appropriations Committee and ranking member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee, explained that women represent a staggering 70 per cent of the world’s poor.

Last May, she helped introduce the United States Leadership to Eradicate Obstetric Fistula Act of 2012, which it is hoped will eradicate the preventable condition over the next ten years, but she said that women still face too many barriers that can only be overcome via investment.

The politician said that funding now needs to be made available to combat the global food crisis which heavily affects mothers and their newborns.

"We know, for example, that the right nutrition for mothers and young children could improve a country’s GDP by at least two per cent," Ms DeLauro added.