Teach Traditional Ethiopian Midwives to Save Lives

Summary

By ensuring mothers and frontline health providers in Ethiopia have access to simple, proven, and affordable technologies, thousands of lives can be saved during pregnancy and childbirth.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Women are dying unnecessarily. In Ethiopia, over 80% of the population is rural, often hundreds of miles from the nearest hospital. More than half of mothers deliver their babies at home and women here have a 1 in 40 lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes. The greatest tragedy is that these deaths are largely preventable if only existing technology and medicines where made available to women.

How will this project solve this problem?

Through clinical studies requested by the government, we provide evidence that the drug can be safely administered by traditional midwives who accompany the vast majority of births. We train 100 traditional midwives and support 1,000 births.

Potential Long Term Impact

Making misoprostol available will give midwives the power to save tens of thousands of women from needless deaths. When a mother's life is saved, her child, family and entire community benefit.

Project Message

Women here give birth at home with the traditional midwife. The health center is far away, closed at night, and there are no drugs. Women die without help in the village.
- Dr. Ndola Prata, Medical and Programs Director

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources