Christy Turlington Burns and Every Mother Counts: Fifteen Years Advancing Maternal Health

In the fifteen years since Every Mother Counts (EMC) was founded, Christy Turlington Burns has become one of the most visible and influential advocates for maternal health, globally and in the United States. What began as a deeply personal experience has grown into an international movement with a mission to make the maternal health journey before, during, and after childbirth safe for everyone, everywhere. “I became a maternal health advocate the day I became a mother,” Turlington Burns recalls. “That was the day I also became a statistic.” After experiencing a postpartum hemorrhage following the birth of her first child, she discovered that hundreds of thousands of women around the world die each year from similar, preventable complications. Intergenerational awareness also fuels her advocacy, knowing firsthand how the death of a mother reverberates over time in families. She recounts, “My mother’s paternal grandmother died in childbirth. Her husband and children never recovered from that loss.” Keywords: Christy Turlington Burns, Every Mother Counts, maternal health advocacy, global maternal mortality, maternal health equity