I was just reading an article in the NY Times about death in birth in Tanzania. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the health of the mother and infant, such as the mother's state, her distance from the clinic, previous c-sections, etc. Plus, at the clinics, there is a shortage of trained healthcare workers. Even more, the reporter witnessed them washing and reusing bloody gauze.

I remember there was a lot of hullaballoo this past January about NBC refusing to air a Super Bowl anti-abortion ad put out by an organization called Fidelis. I tried to find the price tag of such an ad, and according to this site, it would have cost 1.5-1.8 million.

Consider this: In Tanzania, A normal birth at the hospital costs about $6, an emergency Caesarean $15. An excerpt from the NY Times article:

Only 20 percent of women in the area give birth at the hospital, and many do so only when they need Caesareans. Many women say they simply cannot afford the hospital. More than 50 percent stay home togive birth, and the rest go to local clinics that cannot handle emergencies or perform Caesareans. “We lost four or five babies this week,” the Rev. Isaac Y. Mgego, an Anglican priest and the hospital’s director, said in an interview in January. “Our doctors have to play with two bad things, to save the mother or save the child.”

Later on, Mr. Mgego says it costs about $200,000 a year to run Berega Hospital in Tanzania.

Imagine what 1.5 million American dollars could do for these women. It could build more clinics, train more health workers, pay for more prenatal care, treat malaria, repair fistulas, run Berege Hospital for 7 years . . . it could save lives.

I understand that some people place a lot of significance in making a point, such as with a Super Bowl ad or otherwise. But if I had 1.5 million dollars at my disposal, I don't think that's what I'd spend it on.