There are few individuals more intelligently passionate about a cause than Christy Turlington Burns when it comes to improving prenatal and delivery care for mothers around the globe. Witness her compelling film No Woman, No Cryand consider her formation of Every Woman Counts, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness on the healthcare plight of soon-to-be mothers in the United States and beyond.

The former supermodel now activist, filmmaker, mother of two and wife of filmmaker Edward Burns brought her message to Houston at the invitation of Texas Children's Hospital's Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark Kline, who also heads the Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative. She was invited initially to speak to Baylor faculty as part of an ongoing series of guest speakers.

That soon grew into a fundraiser for Texas Children's Center for Global Health that included a cocktail reception at Samba Grille with Burns followed by a screening of the film at Sundance Cinemas. This reporter was asked to emcee the Q&A session that followed with Kline and Dr. Michael Belfort, obstetrician/gynecologist-in-chief at Texas Children's new Pavilion for Women. The evening was co-hosted by the Houston Cinema Arts Society, headed by Trish Ridgon.

Burns explained in the film that she began to consider the situation of mothers in countries with poor health care after the birth of her daughter, when she suffered postpartum hemorrhaging. Had she not had contemporary medical care, she could have died as do hundreds of thousands of mothers worldwide each year.

From her investigation of the subject, the concept for the film evolved. The beautifully-executed No Woman, No Cry explores the plight of mothers without access to professional care and about to give birth in Tanzania, Guatemala, the United States and India.

The subject tied in with Kline's work in Baylor children's clinics on the African continent and in Romania and with the work of Belfort's researchers and physicians dealing with high-risk pregnancies at the Pavilion for Women. Belfort announced that the center, which is serving out-patients, will deliver its first baby on March 26, coincidentally Belfort's birthday.