Events

‘Wish We Were There!’ Staycation Video/Photo Challenge

Help to support Maternity Worldwide to help villages in Malawi and Uganda to be resilient against the virus and for us to continue to save lives in childbirth.

Many people have already had their dream holiday plans cancelled or at least delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the lockdown this has even scuppered plans for travel and short breaks within our own countries. It is still not clear when travel restrictions will be lifted and whether it will be necessary to be in quarantine on arrival in another country or on our return home. Air travel, in particular in the short to medium term, will need to change significantly when it does ‘re-start’, prices are predicted to be higher and capacity at airport and queues could be severely impacted due to social distancing requirements.

Some of you may remember the popular UK TV holiday programme ‘Wish you were here?’ presented by Judith Chalmers. So here at Maternity Worldwide we are asking you to support our ‘Charity Begins at Home Coronavirus Appeal’ and take part in our exciting ‘Wish We Were There!’ video and photo challenge through your favourite social media!

How it works:

  1. You may have been nominated by someone to take part – or you are welcome to start your own challenge chain! Please respond within 48 hours after being challenged if possible!
  2. Put together a video or still photo of you and who you live with – from your home or garden depicting ‘Wish We Were There’. You may use props, fancy dress, souvenirs or special effects to re-create either where you were planning to visit, where you went last year, your dream-destination or a memorable holiday – you choose!
  3. In your video/photo or in the text on your post nominate AT LEAST FIVE friends or contacts that you are passing on the challenge to.
  4. Please add this graphic to the end of your video or add as a photo to your post – you can download this image here.
  5. Post the video/photo on your favourite social media (details below) with details of who you are passing on the challenge to.
  6. Please then donate a minimum £5 per household to Maternity Worldwide’s ‘Charity Begins at Home Coronavirus Appeal’. Please don’t forget to fill in Gift Aid details if you are a UK taxpayer so that we receive an extra 25% at no additional cost to you.
  7. Follow the social media prompts below to share your story and maximise our impact

Thank you for your support and ‘Happy Staycation!

  • Instagram – please add the handle @maternityworldwide to your post. Your video/photo automatically comes to the feed on this page.
  • Twitter – please add @maternityww to you post. Your video/photo will automatically come through to the feed on this page.
  • Facebook – please add #maternityworldwide and we will then add your post to our gallery.
  • TikTok, WhatsApp or email – please send your video/photo to. [email protected]

Wish we were there

Maternal Health -What’s next in the 2020s? Thursday 16th January, London.

To welcome the World Health Organisation International Year of the Nurse and Midwife Maternity Worldwide hosted the first event of the new decade to discuss and help identify the next steps to improve global maternal health.

Maternity Worldwide presented the results of their work in Malawi – launching the ‘Improving Maternal and Newborn Health in Rural Zomba’ impact report 2020. This included the premier of three impact films. The event then took the format of an open discussion as all participants were invited to enter into a conversation on how we can make the 2020s the decade of maternal health.

Dr Amali Lokugamage (University College London and International MotherBaby Childbirth Organisation) presented on the International Childbirth Initiative and Annie Sondaal (Women and Children First UK) presented on Community Interventions to Improve Maternal and Newborn Health. Following a facilitated discussion and debate on key issues, Dr Ranee Thakar, Vice President Royal College of Obstetricians and Gyaecologists provided closing remarks summarising the event.

We are very grateful to all participants for making this a truly interactive and collaborative event and to Govert Deketh and all the staff at London Marriot County Hall for generously providing the venue, refreshments and support.

Download the full Impact Report (pdf)

Maternity Worldwide’s Christmas 2019 Appeal: Meet Mary and Joseph

After a long, hazardous journey over rough terrain, a young mother relies on the kindness of strangers to reach a safe place to deliver her baby. It’s a familiar story enacted in Nativity plays across the UK. But for Mary and Joseph Chimwanza in modern-day Malawi, it was their family’s reality.

When her labour pains started at midnight, Mary Chimwanza had to travel by bicycle rather than on a donkey, but she still faced dangers and harsh weather. Not to mention ‘three wise men’ although these turned out to be members of a Maternity Worldwide sponsored Participatory Learning Action group rather than Magi.

In Mary’s own words:

‘On our way to hospital, we met some people who were coming from the beer hole. We become scared and because of my condition, we decided to face them and explained our story – that we were rushing to the hospital for delivery. The men then decided that to escort us to the health centre. Later in our discussions with the men, we discovered that two of them belonged to the Participatory Learning Action (PLA) group in our village.’

‘My condition become worse when it started to rain and it was cold. One of the men who joined us had a raincoat which he gave me and we had to seek shelter in the nearby village until the rain became less heavy. When the rain stopped, we continued our journey to the hospital where we were assisted quickly and it did not take long before I delivered our baby, Earnest.’

In low-income countries, drawing parallels with the Christmas story is still too easy.

  • At the time of the Nativity, only the very rich sought medical help in childbirth.
    Today in sub-Saharan Africa roughly 50% of mothers give birth without the help of a midwife.
  • Many women still have to travel unacceptable distances on foot in the last stages of pregnancy or are carried over rough roads while in labour.
  • In the Bible, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable with no electricity or clean running water.
    Many clinics are still lacking even these basic facilities.

We are working so women and girls in low-income countries can access the high-quality maternal health care they need to be able to give birth safely. We train and employ local midwives so medical intervention during childbirth is available for a woman when she needs it. Our projects aim to to give access to better local healthcare facilities so no woman has to face a painful journey during labour, and we work to provide well-equipped, clean environments where skilled staff can to deliver a baby safely.

Please help us this Christmas

This year, we are asking our generous supporters, if they can, to commit to donating £27 to our Christmas 2019 Appeal. We have chosen this sum because it’s less than 1% of what a typical UK family will spend in the run-up to the festive season.

Please support us to ensure more families like Mary, Joseph and Earnest can enjoy a happy Christmas together.

Choctober is back!

Could you cancel the Cadbury’s for a whole month? Ditch the Dairy Milk and help us save the lives of mothers and their babies.

Our annual Choctober campaign is back! Ask your friends and family to sponsor your chocolate-free month, or alternatively, donate what you would otherwise have spent on sweets.

Whatever you raise will enable us to empower and support women to give birth safely. It costs, on average, just £15 to provide a safe birth and as little as £1 for a course of antibiotics to prevent infection following childbirth.

Together our small efforts can make life-changing differences.

Download your Choctober pack now

Choctober – Sponsorship Form

Choctober – Countdown Calendar

Choctober – Leaflet

To donate the money you have raised or to set up your own Choctober sponsorship page please visit JustGiving.

If you need anything else please don’t hesitate to contact us on [email protected].

Please do Tweet us @maternityww or visit our Facebook page to let us know how you’re getting on and good luck!

Our annual Choctober campaign is back!

Could you cancel the Cadbury’s for a whole month? Ditch the Dairy Milk and help us save the lives of mothers and their babies.

Ask your friends and family to sponsor your chocolate-free month, or alternatively, donate what you would otherwise have spent on sweets.
Whatever you raise will enable us to empower and support women to give birth safely. It costs, on average, just £15 to provide a safe birth and as little as £1 for a course of antibiotics to prevent infection following childbirth.

Together our small efforts can make life-changing differences!

Download a Choctober fundraising pack here

Tea at The Garden House

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for afternoon tea at The Garden House on Friday 20 September!

The event was kindly organised by the Brighton Fundraising Group in aid of Maternity Worldwide and a fantastic afternoon was had by all, enjoying delicious homemade sandwiches and cakes, a glass of fizz and unlimited refills of tea in the autumn sunshine, in the beautiful setting of the The Garden House is at 5 Warleigh Road, Brighton BN1 4NT . Photos of our event to come so watch this space!

Maternity Worldwide joins the Thriving Together campaign

To mark World Population Day 2019, Maternity Worldwide is pleased to join 150 other leading environmental and reproductive health organisations to pledge support the Thriving Together campaign. Organisations that have signed up to the Thriving Together campaign form a diverse global alliance united by the agreement that improving access to family planning services is critically important for the environment and biodiversity.

Find out more in our blog.

Maternity Worldwide joins the Thriving Together campaign

The Thriving Together campaign recognises that family planning is critically important not only for women and girls but also for the environment.

Maternity Worldwide is pleased to join 150 other leading environmental and reproductive health organisations to pledge support the Thriving Together campaign. Organisations that have signed up to the Thriving Together campaign form a diverse global alliance united by the agreement that improving access to family planning services is critically important for the environment and biodiversity.

The Sustainable Development Goals call for integrated solutions. Maternity Worldwide, along with other organisations backing the Thriving Together campaign agree that whether working in health or environmental conservation, through sharing information and working together on strategic projects and policies, we can help human communities and their ecosystems thrive. Successful biodiversity conservation requires taking people, our health, and our interactions with the natural world into account.

Increasing human pressures are among the many challenges facing planetary health. In addition, by harming ecosystems, people undermine food and water security and human health, and threaten habitats and species. Ensuring family planning is available to all who seek it is among the positive actions organisations must take to lessen these pressures.

The United Nations projects that global population will rise from 7.7 billion today to 9.7 billion by 2050. Future population growth is uncertain however, and highly sensitive to small changes in the average number of children per mother. If the physical, financial, educational, social and religious barriers to people using family planning services were removed and the average number of children per mother was just 0.5 lower than the UN population projection which is most commonly used, global population would peak at 8.9 billion in 2050, rather than 9.7 billion.

This is all possible, by enabling the exercise of a well-recognised human right, that people should be able to decide for themselves, whether, when, how often and with whom to bring children into the world. Family planning contributes to women’s empowerment, improves family and general health, advances education and life opportunities and, by slowing population growth, eases pressures on wildlife and ecosystems.

The Thriving Together campaign is spearheaded by the Margaret Pyke Trust, which has over 50 years’ experience of family planning. David Johnson, Chief Executive at the Margaret Pyke Trust says: “The existence of barriers to family planning is the most important ignored environmental challenge of our day. This changes now. The Thriving Together campaign encourages cross-sectoral support between health and environmental conservation organisations, showcasing that when people can choose freely whether and when to have children it is for the benefit of both people and planet. Barriers to family planning are not only relevant to those who are passionate about improving health, gender equality, empowerment and economic development, but also to those who are passionate about the conservation of biodiversity, the environment and sustainability.”

The Margaret Pyke Trust’s Thriving Together campaign is informed by its paper ‘Removing Barriers to Family Planning, Empowering Sustainable Environmental Conservation’, which sets out how and why family planning is important for the environment. The Thriving Together campaign website www.ThrivingTogether.Global launches today – 11th July 2019.

About Thriving Together:

At the heart of the Thriving Together campaign is the widespread agreement, for the first time, that removal of barriers to family planning are critically important not only for women and girls, but also for environmental conservation and biodiversity. The campaign is the start of the process to change global policy to recognise this. 150 leading environmental and reproductive health organisations working in over 170 countries have declared their support for the campaign, with particular support from African organisations, working in all 54 African nations. The Thriving Together website, statement and paper can be viewed here.

Brighton Marathon 2020: Ten Years’ Running!

Run Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide

When: Sunday 19th April 2020

Where: Brighton

Price: £55

We have a limited number of Brighton Marathon ‘charity partner’ places available for supporters of Maternity Worldwide. Registration is open NOW and costs just £55.

Brighton Marathon is the second largest marathon in the UK. Starting with a loop of gorgeous Preston Park, then taking in the best of the city centre including the Brighton Pavilion and fabulous stretches of coastal road, you’ll be able to take in some spectacular panoramic views where the glorious South Downs meet the English Channel. With its fast, flat course, Brighton Marathon is always a popular event in the running calendar.

Why not run the Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide? We will provide you with one of our sought-after running vests, a fantastic set of enthusiastic cheerers on race day, fundraising pack including social media graphics and badges, and full support from our team. In exchange for an unforgettable day, we ask that you fund-raise at least £400 for us.

What could we achieve with your sponsor money?

  • £15 can provide a safe birth for a mother in Africa.
  • £30 can enable a woman to attend training sessions and receive a small amount of seed funding to begin their own small businesses. By becoming financially independent women are empowered to become the decision makers about their own sexual and reproductive health.
  • £80 can pay for a month’s midwifery training.

The money you raise will go a long way towards helping save the lives of mothers and babies during childbirth.

In a change from previous years, this year all Brighton Marathon participants self-register through Race Roster: simply click here.

No payment is required at this stage. We are notified whenever someone signs up to run for Maternity Worldwide and will then send you an invoice for £55 to complete your registration. You will be given a Race Roster confirmation number on their ‘thank you’ page. Please make a note of it in case of queries.

We don’t manage the Race Roster site so if you have any problems with your registration, please contact [email protected].

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at  [email protected].

Brighton Marathon 2020

Run Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide!

When: Sunday 19th April 2020

Where: Brighton East Sussex

Price: £55

We have a limited number of Brighton Marathon ‘charity partner’ places available for supporters of Maternity Worldwide. Registration is open NOW and costs just £55.

Brighton Marathon is the second largest marathon in the UK. Starting with a loop of gorgeous Preston Park, then taking in the best of the city centre including the Brighton Pavilion and fabulous stretches of coastal road, you’ll be able to take in some spectacular panoramic views where the glorious South Downs meet the English Channel. With its fast, flat course, Brighton Marathon is always a popular event in the running calendar.

Why not run the Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide? We will provide you with one of our sought-after running vests, a fantastic set of enthusiastic cheerers on race day, fundraising pack including social media graphics and badges, and full support from our team. In exchange for an unforgettable day, we ask that you fund-raise at least £400 for us.

What could we achieve with your sponsor money?

  • £15 can provide a safe birth for a mother in Africa.
  • £30 can enable a woman to attend training sessions and receive a small amount of seed funding to begin their own small businesses. By becoming financially independent women are empowered to become the decision makers about their own sexual and reproductive health.
  • £80 can pay for a month’s midwifery training.

The money you raise will go a long way towards helping save the lives of mothers and babies during childbirth.

In a change from previous years, this year all Brighton Marathon participants self-register through Race Roster: simply click here.

No payment is required at this stage. We are notified whenever someone signs up to run for Maternity Worldwide and will then send you an invoice for £55 to complete your registration. You will be given a Race Roster confirmation number on their ‘thank you’ page. Please make a note of it in case of queries.

We don’t manage the Race Roster site so if you have any problems with your registration, please contact [email protected].

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at  [email protected].