A Different Kind of Mother’s Day Gift: Save a Child’s Life
Did you know that one woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth every minute? That’s over half a million women each year. Many of these women have no skilled help at the time of childbirth, and die alone. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries, and most times could be prevented by access to information and low cost interventions.
That’s why we’d like to make everyone aware of our friends at Maternity Worldwide. Maternity Worldwide is a registered charity in the UK, dedicated to saving the lives of mothers and their babies overseas.
This year, Maternity Worldwide is running a Mother’s Day campaign to raise awareness and funding. Their idea is simple. Maternity Worldwide is suggesting that people celebrate Mothers Day by sponsoring a safe birth.
It costs only US$30 to provide a safe delivery in Gimbie, a town in the West Wollega District of Ethiopia. Gimbie is a remote and mountainous area with no road networks. Most families live over 15 kms away from a health facility. Imagine trying to make this journey on foot … when you’ve been in labor for 48 hours … and haven’t felt your baby move for over 6 hours. This is a common story for the women in this region.
In 2007 over 1000 women living in Gimbie gave birth safely at the Gimbie Hospital, where Maternity Worldwide works to build the capacity of the health care providers.
Further information can be found at www.maternityworldwide.org.
