This Mother’s Day, I can’t help but reflect on the day I first became a mother. As I held my newborn son, feeling full of hope and promise, little did I know that eight months later we would be huddled over a hospital crib, watching his small body struggle to breathe. The pneumonia came on fast, in a matter of hours, and when my pediatrician told me our son would have to be admitted immediately, tears welled in my eyes. I could hardly register what he was saying.

The experience was traumatic, but the idea of my baby not surviving was inconceivable to me, largely because we were in the United States, where every resource was available to cure him, where he’d been well nourished and cared for since birth.

Tragically, this is not the case around the world. In many of the poorest countries, young children are still dying every day at a staggering rate from preventable illnesses, such as my son’s pneumonia. But how is that possible? Because the resources aren’t in place to ensure babies survive those critical first years.

In our world, we lose 5.9 million children every year before their 5th birthday from mostly preventable and treatable causes. That translates into 11 children dying every minute. Think of a yellow school bus, full of 72 bright and hopeful lives, crashing every six minutes and killing each child on board. It’s hard to fathom, isn’t it, especially in 2016. And mothers often lose not only their child, but also their own lives during labor in deplorable conditions. According to UNICEF, 300,000 women around the globe still die every year while giving birth.

What the Reach Act does is enshrine certain reforms into law that will allow the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), our main international development agency, and its global partners to support low-income countries. It is the final phase in an effort to end preventable child and maternal deaths that began 25 years ago. Since then, USAID and its global partners have made huge strides in reducing the deaths of children under five from 12.7 million in 1990 to 5.9 million today. But still, far too many babies and toddlers are perishing.

The good news is it doesn’t require additional funding and focuses on what we know works best: ensuring mothers get quality prenatal care, management of labor and delivery, and basic treatments vital for child health. The Reach Act ultimately holds USAID accountable by making sure it develops strategies to end preventable deaths with clear, measurable goals. It also boosts transparency and focuses on the poorest, most vulnerable populations while at the same time recognizing the special needs within each country and community. In short, it’s a smart investment in world health we can’t afford not to make.

Right now, as the Reach Act sits before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, there’s something you and I can do here at home to help push the bill forward. Reach out to your local congress member — call, write, email, track them down at town hall meetings — and ask them to co-sponsor the Reach Act. In San Diego County, Reps. Susan Davis (53rd district) and Scott Peters (52nd) have already signed on, but Reps. Darrell Issa (49th), Juan Vargas (51st) and Duncan Hunter (50th) still need to hear from you.