It is an astounding fact—1500 mothers die each day during pregnancy or because of complications during labour. One of the best predictors of a child’s health and well-being is a healthy mother. But shockingly, 24,000 children under the age of five die every day, with 38% of these deaths occurring within the first 28 days of life. These deaths can be stopped because they are the result of common illness or health issues that we know how to prevent and treat.

On May 4th, in honour of mothers everywhere World Vision joined with other international aid organizations and health professional associations to organize an event on the steps of Parliament Hill to call for all-party support to help save the lives of the hundreds of thousands of mothers and nearly 9 million children who die every year from preventable deaths.

Act Now! Five years is not a child’s lifetime. Click here to send your MP a letter now.

As part of this event, Mother’s Day baskets were presented to MPs including The Honourable Bev Oda, Minister for International Cooperation, The Honourable Bob Rae, Liberal critic for Foreign Affairs, Madame Johanne Deschamps, Porte-parole du Bloc Québécois en matière de coopération internationale, Mr. John Rafferty, New Democratic Party critic for International Cooperation and CIDA. Included were chocolates and flowers, things a Canadian mother can expect on Mother’s Day. Also in the baskets were home birthing kits and nutritional supplementation, things a mother in Afghanistan or sub-Saharan Africa needs to live and to keep her child alive.

For the rest of the week of May 3, World Vision along with other child and maternal focused organizations are delivering our special Mother’s Day baskets too all Members of Parliament (MPs)—all 308—to encourage them to continue to support the Canadian maternal and child health initiative that will be part of the G8 Summit meetings in Muskoka in June.

This Sunday, Canadians are going to honour their mothers by giving them flowers, chocolates and cards. But for the mothers of the 8.8 million children who die every year—the greatest gift we could give them would be some simple tools to help them see their children grow and flourish—tools like immunizations, clean water and skilled help during childbirth and with breastfeeding. You can help give these gifts to mothers around the world by writing to your Member of Parliament and encouraging your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.

Click here to find out about the five things you can do to save a child’s life.