Amina S. Ali, African Union ambassador to the United States, made her first visit to Seattle this week, seeking to build bridges with Washington state institutions, which she says are playing a more important role in African business and development.

Ali, who is from Tanzania, represents an organization of 53 countries formed in 2002 and loosely based on the European Union, with the goal of helping integrate the continent to give it a stronger voice in the global economy while also addressing social, economic and political issues. The AU launched its first diplomatic mission in the U.S. in 2007.

Ali is the second high-level diplomat to come through Seattle in a week to meet the Gates Foundation, with a message to focus more on improving maternal health. Both Ali and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that the world's goal of improving the health of mothers and children is falling further behind.

The African Union is calling attention to the issue in a new campaign to reduce deaths of women in pregnancy and childbirth.

"We found for the last 10 years the donor community is focused on HIV/AIDS, and it's a stubborn problem," she said. "But there are other issues that confront women and children that nobody is talking about. There's no reason women in Africa should die in childbirth."

"We are thinking what can we do to bring women's issues to the top?" Part of the problem is a shortage of doctors and nurses, she said. Throughout parts of rural Africa, the ratio is 1 doctor to every 40,000 to 100,000 patients.

Like Ban, Ali also talked about the important role business can play in solving global issues. In Seattle, she met with Microsoft, the Trade Development Alliance and the African Chamber of Commerce.

Mobile phones are now helping medical diagnosis, she said. In Tanzania, patients living 1,000 miles from a city are using mobile phones to send information about illnesses and receive diagnosis.

For all the wrangling over trade with China, the U.S. should take a look at the way it's investing in Africa, she said.

"Americans should start to think why the Chinese have gone to Africa while the Americans have not taken advantage of that," she said. Americans have been more cautious, sitting on the sidelines. Chinese have been aggressively pursuing business, and while the relationship is not always easy, they are helping Africans solve key infrastructure problems, especially in building ports, she said.

One thing that has mitigated risk for the Chinese companies is a Chinese government development fund targeting Africa. The $10 billion China-Africa Development (CAD) fund aims to promote economic cooperation between China and Africa and advance Africa's economic development by providing money to Chinese companies starting ventures there.

Ali said she hopes the United States can create a similar, large fund to help American companies bridge the gap and start to invest more in the continent to transform its future.

Such a fund could go a lot further than simply giving money to government aid programs, she said. "Give the fund to your own people to invest in Africa," she said.

"It can be done," she said. "China 20 years ago -- it was nothing, and then the private sector decided to work with them. Let's try to work with Africa."