In the well of the House chamber during his first address to Congress, President Joe Biden declared “I told [President Xi Jinping] we welcome the competition, we are not looking for conflict, but I made absolutely clear that we will defend America's interests across the board. (...) I also told the president of China we will maintain a strong military presence in the Pacific, just as we do in NATO and Europe, not to start a conflict, but to prevent one.”
Six weeks earlier, President Biden held a virtual summit with the leaders of three other democratic nations: Australia, Japan, and India. In addition to the United States, these countries are known as “The Quad,” or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The Quad is an informal alliance between these democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, formed in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami that killed over 200,000 people across the region. In recent years, these democracies have been engaging more frequently on issues such as trade, defense, and security cooperation. Their primary, though rarely officially acknowledged, purpose is to counter China and its increasing regional strength. Notably, the joint statement titled “The Spirit of the Quad” from the Quad leaders themselves mentions “the East and South China Seas,” “the region,” and “the Indo-Pacific” without explicitly naming China as their primary purpose for organizing. The People’s Republic of China is not a democracy, but an authoritarian regime with little to no respect for personal freedoms or civil liberties anywhere in its system. Recent unwelcome behavior includes the genocide of Uighur Muslims and the suppression of political autonomy including protest in Hong Kong. China has demonstrated aggressive behavior at sea, such as its occupation of the South China Sea and the building of artificial islands with the intent of expanding regional military presence. As China continues this aggressive behavior and seeks to expand its regional influence, the Quad has bound more closely together, going so far as to conduct joint military exercises in the region.
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Maternal mortality rates have been steadily declining worldwide since 2000. However, in 2017, the United States was one of two countries to experience a significant escalation in their maternal mortality rate. With a rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, the US has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world. The United States also spends the greatest amount of its GDP on healthcare; however, 66% of maternity-related deaths were found to be preventable. So if money isn’t the problem, why are women still dying?
For one, the United States has a very low supply of maternal care, and in addition, is predominantly using the wrong type of care. The World Health Organization encourages the use of midwives throughout pregnancy due to overwhelming evidence of the benefits they provide. Midwives are trained to help women throughout pregnancy, during birth, and postpartum. However, OB-GYNs are the more commonly used option. OB-GYNs are only trained to intervene when problems occur in the pregnancy. In most developed countries, there are many times more midwives than there are OB-GYNs available to pregnant women. The United States has rates of 12 and 15 midwives and OB-GYNs, respectively, per 1,000 births. This indicates an overall shortage of care providers, as every other country has rates two to sixfold greater. Although coverage for midwives is required under the Affordable Care Act, the supply is too sparse to make any significant change. In addition, required physician oversight and state licensure laws limit the number of available midwives even further. This indicates further that a lack of midwives and related resources is causing women to suffer from less treatment throughout their pregnancies. |
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ADDRESSVirginia Policy Review
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