Rabiya, a mother who received life-saving support from her local women's health group
Right now, in the world’s poorest communities, women like Rabiya are dying needlessly in pregnancy and childbirth, because they don’t know where to turn for help.
Every two minutes, another life is lost to treatable complications like blood-loss and infection.
A woman like Rabiya is almost 40 times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than if she lived in the UK.
£15 could give 3 mums-to-be like Rabiya life-saving support through a women’s health group.
When women are brought together, supported by Women and Children First, they help each other, sharing knowledge and saving lives. This is thanks to kind supporters like you.
Rabiya's story
Rabiya smiling with her baby daughter Fedila
Rabiya lives in Lemen Abu Kebele, a rural village in Central Ethiopia - separated from the nearest hospital by many miles of dangerous dirt road.
With poor ambulance cover in the region, mothers often give birth in a sparse local health facility, completely unsuited to treating dangerous complications like blood-loss.
Haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death for women like Rabiya.
After many hours at the facility and with her labour progressing too slowly, alarm bells rang: Rabiya knew from the advice shared in in her group that she and her baby were at risk.
Taking control, she asked to be taken to hospital.
Rabiya and her husband found their own transport and made it to the hospital in time.
Their little girl Fedila was delivered safely.
Empowered by knowledge and the support of her women’s health group, Rabiya spoke up for herself and took decisive action.
It’s thanks to supporters like you that she had access to lifesaving information. But many more women remain alone, at risk and in the dark. Your donation today could mean their survival.
A proven way to make a difference
A women's health group meeting gather in Uganda, sharing potentially life-saving information using flash-cards
Women’s health groups not only save lives but create lasting change, enabling women to find solutions together, and strengthening communities far into the future.
In rural areas, women like Rabiya face an extreme risk of death from blood-loss in childbirth, and dangers from diseases such as malaria.
These often-fatal conditions can be preventable and entirely treatable, if women only know how to look for the signs and get the right help in time.
By helping to set up a group and train a facilitator, your gift can give women a safe, supportive space to talk and learn about health, pregnancy and childbirth.
Facilitators help women to share vital knowledge and overcome taboos, drawing on mutual support.
From hygiene and disease prevention to danger signs, and the best way to access limited healthcare, women maximise the power of their learning by passing on what they know to others.
Together, they find and develop local solutions to transform their health.
The result? Women like Rabiya are equipped to take an active role in their own healthcare and that of their children.
It’s amazing – thanks to supporters like you over 6,000 lives have been saved since our work began – and counting.
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