MAKING BIRTH SAFER IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Mothers should not die giving life, yet every year, around 300,000 mothers, or mothers-to-be, die in pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of deaths are avoidable and 99% are in developing countries. SubSaharan Africa carries the heaviest burden of these deaths and some of the poorest countries in the world are those who have the highest numbers of maternal deaths. LFAM are committed to trying to reduce this burden by making every mother's life count

The life of a midwife in Sub-Saharan Africa is extremely challenging. They do the same job that UK midwives do without most of the basics that a UK midwife takes for granted. They work long shifts in brutal heat for low, sometimes non-existent wages. They frequently have to look after several labouring women on their own. Often their training is inadequate or out of date. Maternal death is something they face frequently in the absence of up to date equipment, drugs and most of all training. Life for African Mothers provides Skills Sharing Workshops run by volunteer UK midwives. The aim is to offer opportunities to local midwives to refresh and update their knowledge and practice their skills in a supportive and safe environment. The ultimate aim is to make birth safer for women in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Life for African Mothers decided to take a simple but effective approach to saving mothers lives: the two Ms. This was Misoprostol and Midwives. LFAM was advised that focusing on Post Partum Haemorrhage (PPH), the biggest killer of women and by providing Misoprostol, the medication to prevent or treat PPH, we would save many more mothers. Currently, LFAM are providing Misoprostol to part or whole of five countries. Our volunteer midwives include the management of this most precious of medications in their skills sharing workshops. The monitoring of the donations, including stock levels and lives saved each month are sent to LFAM which we forward to the donor.

DONATE

Second Liberian Covid Awareness Project 2020/21

The first covid awareness program funded through the British Embassy in Monrovia was very successful and we applied for more funding throughWCVA Cymru and were successful and were therefore able to extend the program furhter into other communities that hadn't already benefited.

The intention of the project from the beginning was to mitigate the impact of covid-19 on three slum communities in Monrovia, LFAM collaborated with the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) through a targeted information campaign which is informing the wider population on the need to access routine essential healthcare and protect each other and through action to support 350 of the most vulnerable pregnant women and nursing mothers with hygiene kits as well as nappies and baby clothes.

International Health Partners and LFAM

Working with a network of healthcare companies across the globe, IHP organise, co-ordinate and move donations of medicines and health supplies. At the same time, they work closely with NGO partners to identify what they need, and to supply them with donations in an effective, safe and responsible way. To learn more about the collaboration between LFAM and IHP. Click Here

Angela Gorman our CEO took part on Thursday 3rd December 2020 in celebrating the shared achievements of IHP and their supporters in what had been a remarkable year. They reflected on the challenges of 2020 and marked the continued efforts alongside their partners to improve access to essential healthcare products in vulnerable communities across the world

The online event can be viewed here.

Medication Delivery in Liberia

This video shows the challenges that LFAM's Country Director in Liberia Abdul Bah has in delivering our lifesaving medications to the outlying counties

LATEST NEWS

A wonderful announcement

We are extremely pleased to announce that Angela Gorman our CEO has been awarded with an MBE (Member of the Order the British Empire) . This announcement should have taken place in June 2020 as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours list announcements but was delayed until October 2020 due to the current circumstances. This is a very much deserved recognition for all the time and dedication that Angela has put in to Life for African Mothers and into promoting the plight of maternal mortality in Sub Saharan Africa.

 

Maternal & Newborn Health

We recently worked with Global Cause on the 2020 Maternal & Newborn Health campaign. A printed publication was enclosed within every copy of the Guardian newspaper and the content is available online at (https://bit.ly/3kzM1yt). The campaign featured exclusive content from key thought leaders and industry voices about the importance of improved access to maternal healthcare.

 

The inspiration for Life for African Mothers was a Panorama programme broadcast in 2005

Click to view Panorama