Seventy percent of birth defects could be prevented, treated or ameliorated if the recommendations in this report are adopted.

We estimate in the report that if the recommendations that we give were implemented, up to 70 percent of mortality and disability from birth defects could be prevented, treated, or ameliorated.

We really wanted to bring this toll to the attention of governments, international health organizations, and the public and to provide a road map to move forward.

One could speculate that in countries that are war-torn, those services might diminish.

What we have seen in the U.S. from 1960 to 2001 is a 62 percent reduction in mortality from birth defects.

Care is an absolute. Prevention is the ideal.