"A Book for Midwives" in French for West Africa

Dear supporters,

Thank you so much for your generous support of the African Birth Collective's project to make "A Book for Midwives" available to communities in West Africa, in French for West Africa. 

We will be wrapping up the campaign at the end of September, and sending the funds that have been raised to the African Birth Collective, so that they can begin printing books! As of now, the $311 raised by this campaign will print 30 books that will help midwives in Senegal train new midwives, blend their traditional practices with Western medicine, and problem-solve when they are far from health systems.

The African Birth Collective is continuing to work on building new support systems for midwives, including the Kassoumay Traditional Birth House, which has started caring for mothers and newborns. 

Thank you again for your generosity, and for helping us to spread the word. If you know anyone who would be interested in this project, please do let them know. We look forward to reporting more soon!

Sincerely,

Lizzie

The inspiration for the African Birth Collective came from Kaya Skye's observation of a disconnect between government health worker training and what local midwives actually needed.

 She observed that healthcare workers were being pushed to adopt western birthing practices, but the government- sponsored training was not explaining the rationale for certain actions. For example, health workers were taught how to take blood pressure, but not why it’s important or how high blood pressure could affect a pregnant woman. “But these women are incredibly intelligent and capable of understanding and doing so much more,” says Kaya. She also noticed that along with the westernization of birth care, the more natural approach that had underpinned the work of local midwives for centuries was being lost. Now, instead of natural births, midwives have “rushed births by overusing drugs such as Pitocin,” said Kaya, “which has been a major source of infant mortalities.”

Together with a team of Senegalese midwives, Kaya helped form the Collective, which has accomplished and continues to accomplish inspiring health outcomes for Senegalese mothers and children: 

• The African Birth Collective has designed an exchange program between Senegalese and North American midwives to observe and learn from each other’s work.

• The African Birth Collective supports midwives in incorporating both traditional practices and Western resources into their work. 

• The African Birth Collective has also helped to coordinate the construction of Kassoumay Traditional Birth House, and works with different clinicians all over the country to improve the quality of birthing care, encouraging conversations between traditional birth attendants and clinicians.

Your support has helped the Collective get closer to having copies of A Book for Midwives in French, a resource that Kaya and her fellow midwives have identified as being an important resource for their life-saving work. Because the translation is complete, they are already using the information in the book to augment their programs however they are able to disseminate it.

This campaign will ensure that the information is transformed into a printed book, which can be carried to the furthest corners of Senegal and all of West Africa. 

Thank you for your gift! We sincerely hope that you will share this campaign with anyone who would want to know about how they can help women grow as professionals and as communtiy caregivers--as well as saving the lives of mothers and newborns.