After a decade-long conflict, Sierra Leone has many challenges ahead including improving child and maternal health. In 2009, one in eight women died during pregnancy. Fatimata Konte, an expectant mother, fears giving birth after already losing five of her children. She hopes the new policy to bring free healthcare to all pregnant women will save her next child and make giving birth safe for all women.
Midwives in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, represent the front line in a nationwide battle to improve the lives of women. They are helping to reduce domestic violence and improve education, while also working hard to maintain a maternal mortality rate of close to zero.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has the second-highest number of maternal deaths in the world. The Edge of Joy follows doctors, midwives, nurses, and public health educators as they fight maternal death on every front, from preemptive family planning education to expanded blood transfusion services.
Brenda is a health care worker in South Africa who is educating young women about sexual and reproductive health, particularly the dangers of illegal abortions. But she faces many challenges, including corrupt doctors and powerful cultural taboos.
One billion people in the world face hunger and malnourishment on a daily basis. The international community has long sought to tackle this problem. But what if everything we thought we knew about how to erase hunger was wrong? Concern Worldwide and Valid International brought their innovative ideas and faced off against entrenched interests to change people's perceptions of this problem. The result was a sea change in how the world looks at hunger.
Being a new mom is rewarding and challenging. But what extra burdens do mothers in poor and rural communities face? Take a tour of the world's best and worst places to be a mom, in this report from Save the Children and ViewChange.org.
Contraceptives are difficult to get hold off in rural Sierra Leone. As a result, many young couples end up with more children than they can take care of, a strain on both the family's budget and the mother's health. But a new program is teaching young mothers about family planning and providing free birth control.
In Malawi, agogos (grandparents) are responsible for passing on tradition. Through the Agogo Program, they are educating future parents on proper pre- and post-natal care to help increase the odds of safe childbirth.
Among indigenous people in remote parts of Ecuador, expectant mothers are often reluctant to give birth away from home, leading to possible complications during labor. But local hospitals are beginning to realize that a little cultural sensitivity can go a long way toward changing their minds.
Most Ethiopian women deliver their babies at home without the aid of a trained birth attendant, increasing the chances of complications for both mother and child. World Health Organization Global Ambassador Liya Kebede confronts the challenges facing mothers and newborns in her home country, and discovers how new programs are helping shift the odds in their favor.
Access to proper medical care can be a matter of life and death for pregnant women in rural Uganda and their babies. Elizabeth, a midwife at Bwindi Community Hospital, confronts the challenges facing pregnant women while preparing for the birth of her own child.
CAUTION: This video contains graphic medical scenes.
Access is often the largest obstacle to healthcare. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the rugged, mountainous country of Lesotho, where much of the population lives mired in rural poverty. But one organization, Riders for Health, has introduced an all-terrain option that's linking communities in the most remote regions: the motorbike.
Concern Worldwide's Child Survival Program has revolutionized maternal and child health by utilizing established local leaders to spread knowledge throughout the communities about how to access hospitals and healthcare. It has laid a foundation within the community and with local actors that is saving lives on a grassroots level.
Investments in new equipment and modern birthing techniques are helping Kyrgyzstan adopt more child-friendly standards in its hospitals and tackle the country’s high maternal mortality rate.
The founder of San Francisco's Homeless Prenatal Program talks about how her experiences of volunteering in the developing world gave her the inspiration to help people in need closer to home.
The Mid-Magdalena region of Colombia is one of the most macho parts of Latin America, a place where violence against women is a casual part of everyday life. But change is coming. One of the "change-makers" is Judge Esperanza Gonzalez, a woman in her late 40s who is seeking to bring justice for females both inside her courtroom and out.
