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Lensa was a Diploma Nurse in the West Wollega area of Ethiopia.  We are sponsoring her 4 year course to become a qualified midwife through the money raised from Muffins for Midwives. 

When Lensa was a nurse she attended a series of training sessions run by Maternity Worldwide which have enabled her to increase her skills and confidence in caring for pregnant women and helping with deliveries which confirmed her decision that she wanted to train to become a midwife.

Lensa started her 4 year Midwifery Degree course in October 2012 and we asked her to let us know how she is getting on.  Here is what she had to say after her first year;

“I have classes Monday to Friday and sometimes tutorials on Saturday.  There are 53 students in my class and there are some very clever students.  I had exams in sociology and health technology and scored A in both.  I got an A+ in my anatomy exam and have my physiology.  The Myles textbook which Maternity Worldwide sent me has really helped.  I also have English classes as part of the course, I got a B+ for my exam but I am trying to improve.  I live in a nice dormitory with 8 other students.”

Lensa is now in her final year and has continued to work exceptionally hard throughout her course and remains at the top of her class.  There have been several placements and lots of practical experience throughout the course which Lensa has excelled at including complex deliveries.

“My latest placement is at Bedelle Hospital at Bedelle Town near to Mettu (120km from Mettu University where my course is).  I got lots of experience attending deliveries including complex ones, giving antenatal care services for pregnant women, providing family planning services etc………I am really enjoying it.  Thank you very much for supporting me, Lensa”.

Lensa qualifies this Summer and will start work as a midwife in a local health centre helping women now and for the future to give birth safely.  This has only been possible thanks to the money raised through Muffins for Midwives so thank you to everyone who has taken part and donated.

It costs as little as £80 a month, on average, to sponsor the training of a midwife in Ethiopia that’s just £4 a day!  In West Wollega, throughout the career of a midwife they could help to deliver approximately 7,500 babies.  At the moment around 94% of women give birth without any skilled health workers present.  We could change this by training more midwives.  If you would like to help then why not host a Muffins for Midwives event.

Robert, one of our student midwives in Malawi, is just starting his final year of training. 

We hear from Robert about how his course is going and the challenges he faces;

“We have just started our next placement and have just done an assessment in antenatal care, the results from the assessment are not yet out, but in terms of midwifery theory things are good and understandable.

As for general nursing now am doing well, though need extra hard working.  On the placement assessments which we have done, I got the following grades; Theater 91%, 1st medical assessment 81%, Under 5 care 76%, Psychiatric 77%, Family planning 81%.  These are the assessments that we have done so far.  From these I have some experiences that are helping me for the future health worker I will be.  For example I have learnt that most of the maternal deaths are because of mismanagement and lack of knowledge of some care givers of which its very bad.  Becoming a mother should not mean a threat to their lives.  So I hope to be well equipped with knowledge so that I will assist mothers to give birth safely.

My desire is to be equipped with more effective knowledge and to progress in this course up until the above levels, especially this midwifery, but I need some years of experience first to increase my knowledge and skills, but I will continue with this field in what ever means, that’s my desire.

CHALLENGES

Academically, challenges are minimal, just electricity problems which is now a song of Malawians, but for me with the Laptop donated to me by Maternity Worldwide I just charge it fully so that studies continue though no electricity, and that is one of the advantages of having it, with the book it is also making school life simple because I have it full time in my room, otherwise, everything is good.

As a stated some time back that am from the poorest family that is even one of the beneficiary to other donations here in Malawi, our house in my home village fell down due to floods, so I am also a basic needs provider to my parents, and paying a secondary school fees to my young brother who is now in form 3, and I have my sister’s son who is disabled and at age of going to school (Primary) but can not because of his mobility problem that needs like a wheelchair.  So these sometimes give me problems psychologically though sometimes encourage me to work extra hard so that I will be the changing agent to help my family.  But I make sure that these will not affect my academic progress, otherwise everything is just fine and I am enjoying studying.

Once again thank you for what you think and do to my future, and am promising to be a good health worker.“
If you would like to help us to continue training student midwives such as Robert please consider making a donation to our Muffins for Midwives campaign or to get involved and host a Muffins for Midwives event to help us raise even more money to support students such as Robert to become a midwife.  1 in 22 women die during pregnancy or childbirth, having a midwife or skilled birth attendant present is the most effective way to save lives.

Our Chair, Dr Adrian Brown, was invited to be part of a panel of experts on a recent live Q&A session run by The Guardian on how to improve maternal health in conflict and extreme poverty.  A summary of the discussion was published in The Guardian article ’11 ideas to improve maternal health in areas of conflict and extreme poverty’.   We were delighted that our contribution was noted in the article and it was great to be part of such an important discussion.

“I think this is a great way to connect with the public and other interesting organisations who were on the panel and because it takes part online you are then able to provide more detailed answers and direct people to web resources as well as interacting with a global audience”. Dr Adrian Brown, Chair.

You can read the full article here.

Our Chair, Dr Adrian Brown, was invited to present at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) World Congress in Toronto, Canada in October 2015.  His presentation including sharing the evidence base and best practice on our Integrated Approach to improving maternal health based on the ‘Three Delays Model’ and information on the latest research project, CRADLE 3.  The presentation is available upon request.

About FIGO

The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) is the only organisation that brings together professional societies of obstetricians and gynecologists on a global basis.  FIGO’s vision is for women of the world to achieve the highest possible standards of physical, mental, reproductive and sexual health and wellbeing throughout their lives.  For over 60 years FIGO has collaborated with the world’s top health and donor bodies.  FIGO currently has Member Societies in 130 countries/territories.

Quote from our Chair

“I was honoured to be asked to present at the FIGO World Congress and to have the opportunity to share our evidence base on the Integrated Approach to improving maternal health compiled over the previous 14 years of working in maternal health in Africa.  It is really important that maternal health organisations and health providers attempt to simultaneously address each of the issues women face accessing safe and appropriate childbirth.” Dr Adrian Brown, Chair.

Maternity Worldwide are delighted to announce we have been shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives Best Charity Initiative Award for our ‘Muffins for Midwives’ fundraising campaign – raising money to train more midwives in Africa!

The RCM Annual Midwifery Awards reward, celebrate and share outstanding achievement in midwifery across the UK.  They recognise the best new evidence-based practice projects and the best in team working.  They discover outstanding individuals making a difference for women, families and the newborn.  A true reflection of excellence in midwifery and are designed to: Promote best practice and world-class midwifery standards; Showcase practice innovations and ground-breaking initiatives; Recognise individual and team excellence.  For more information visit the RCM Awards website at www.rcmawards.com/consumer-categories.

Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “Just to be shortlisted is a remarkable achievement and I congratulate Maternity Worldwide on their achievement.  This award highlights how important charities like Maternity Worldwide are in delivering much needed support to mothers and their babies in developing countries.  Maternity Worldwide’s vision of a world in which all women and their babies can access safe childcare is a vision that is shared by RCM.  All of the campaigns shortlisted illustrate how passionate, dedicated and committed individual organisations are to improving the life of pregnant women.  I wish them all the best of luck at the awards ceremony in March.”

The winners will be announced at the Annual RCM Midwifery Awards Lunch on 8 March 2016 at The Brewery, London.

Muffins for Midwives is an opportunity for our supporters to host a tea party, coffee morning or bake sale and the money raised goes directly to sponsoring the training of more midwives in Africa.

Maternity Worldwide have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health (EIPH).  The main objective of the agreement is to collaborate and make available to one another expertise, know-how and equipment to enable each Party to increase Laboratory capacity, and Research Outcomes and to generate Intellectual Property Rights.  The main areas of collaboration will be research, training, capacity building and technical assistance.

“This is a unique opportunity to work with the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health in order to strengthen our common objectives of reducing Maternal Mortality Rates in Ethiopia” said Dr Adrian Brown, Chair of Maternity Worldwide.

CRADLE Vital Signs Alert (VSA) “Traffic Light” Blood Pressure Monitor

One of the first collaboration projects will be to investigate the feasibility of the use of a simple, portable blood pressure monitor which can be used by untrained community members with low literacy skills.  The initial research carried out in Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania has been very successful. Maternity Worldwide is an implementation partner in collaboration with King’s College of project CRADLE (Community blood pressure monitoring in Rural Africa: Detection of under-Lying pre-Eclampsia).  With a preliminary trial now underway, starting in March 2016 a large scale clustered, stepped wedge randomised control trial will be undertaken to assess the full impact on mortality and morbidity levels amongst mothers and babies.

We would like to say a big welcome to Natalie who joined us in September  as our new Fundraising Support Officer. 

Natalie will be your contact if you are taking part in, or organising, an event for Maternity Worldwide and can help you with anything to do with fundraising.  We are delighted that Natalie has joined the team, here’s what she had to say about starting at Maternity Worldwide;

“My name is Natalie Hayden and I am the new Fundraising Support Officer at Maternity Worldwide.  I am 25 years old and recently got married!  After 6 years of volunteering for various charities both in the UK and overseas I knew that I wanted to work in the charity sector and help make a difference.  Most recently, in 2013, I volunteered in Africa for 6 months where I fell in love with the continent and the people.  I have a big passion for people so I knew that Maternity Worldwide was a PERFECT charity to be a part of – what is more important than saving lives in a part of the world that is so close to my heart?!  I have a particular interest in fundraising so being the Fundraising Support Officer I am looking forward to getting stuck into pre-planned activities and organising new events in the local area soon.”

If you’d like any help, tips or advice for organising or taking part in a fundraising event for Maternity Worldwide please contact Natalie on [email protected].

We are delighted to announce that Andrew, our Community Health Promotion Manager in Uganda, has recently graduated with a Masters in Public Health from the Uganda Christian University.  The course included modules on public health, leadership, maternal health and safe motherhood.  This follows Andrew’s degree in Social Sciences specializing in Social Administration and Gender Studies from Makerere University.  In October, Andrew will also be graduating with a postgraduate diploma in Project Planning and Management from Kampala International University.

This is what Andrew had to say about his achievements;

“I thank God for what I am today and for having reached one of the levels of education of my dreams (Masters Degree).  What inspired me to pursue the direction of my studies (gender based studies) was my personal background.  I am the second born (and only male) of three children of my mother Harriet.  As a result, my mother often encouraged me to have love for my two sisters and treat all women with respect, my older sister is a Senior Midwife and my younger sister is a Senior Education Assistant.  Since then, I developed a passion for working with women and children which inspired me to study gender related courses in higher institutions of learning.

Proudly, I am working with MW and have successfully conducted and contributed to; baseline surveys, log frame development and needs assessment reports, strategic country plan for Uganda and am steadily moving forward to work with women groups in the communities around Kiryabutuzi, Hoima district, to enhance women empowerment and maternal and new born care in partnership with other stakeholders.  I am grateful that MW is helping me gain more practical and hands-on experience for the good of mothers and children we serve.”

Congratulations Andrew from everyone at Maternity Worldwide!

Amy has completed her 13 week University placement with us, she was a huge asset to our team bringing a wealth of International Development knowledge and research skills from her University course along with a variety of fundraising and social media skills.  Amy went on to do a paid internship with us over the summer and is now returning to finish her final year at University, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Amy for her wonderful contribution to Maternity Worldwide.  This is what Amy had to say about her time here;

“As part of my International Development course at Sussex University I chose to do a 13 week placement at Maternity Worldwide.  Maternity Worldwide was my first choice as my interests were in gender and health, and the work complemented the modules I had done at university previously.  Because Maternity Worldwide is a small charity, working in the office has allowed me to see a wide range of activities that go behind an NGO.  Most of my work involved helping with fundraising, but I also did research into up-to-date maternal health statistics, alternative ambulance systems and potential donors.  I really enjoyed the research aspect of my job and it helped to inform and inspire the research I was doing independently and for my course.

After the placement had finished I stayed on with Maternity Worldwide for the summer in a paid position as Fundraising Support Intern and helped with admin and fundraising in the office.  I hope to keep in close contact with the charity through the Brighton Fundraising Group, which will allow me to continue contributing to the amazing work of this charity.

Obtaining practical experience has been essential to my understanding of development and the way I will approach my course in the future.  The experience I have gained and the skill sets I have acquired will give me a greater advantage when looking for a job after graduation.  Overall, coming to work for Maternity Worldwide has been a valuable educational experience, but also a pleasure to part of a wonderful team doing vital work.”

We would like to say a huge thank you to Butler’s Wine Cellar Brighton for hosting the 3rd Wine Tasting event to raise money for Maternity Worldwide and to everyone who joined us.

The latest event was held on Friday 27th March at the Hanover Community Centre and raised a whopping £1006!

We would like to take the opportunity to thank Henry and Cassie from Butler’s Wine Cellar for their support and time and to the following companies and organisations for kindly donating to our raffle:

The Sussex Yeoman
The Geese Pub
The Flour Pot
Unity
Mumma Sew Curly
Freedom Leisure
Aesthetica
Roly’s Fudge

Please email [email protected] if you would like to be the first to hear when the next wine tasting is booked!