By Rose Penwell | Clinic Director
I want to tell you a story about my friend Rosalie. She likes to be called Lee by her friends. She likes flowers and fresh fruit and loves her children fiercely. Lee also has a life long disease called Hepatitis B.
The World Health Organization reports that 1 in 10 Asian women currently live with this condition. Hepatitis B is not necessarily due to high risk behaviors like having multiple partners or IV drug use. This illness is also passed in another way, from mother to child.
You see Lee’s mother unknowingly passed this condition to her daughter. And without treatment, Lee will pass it on to her baby at birth. This is not just a sad story though. The story I am telling today is one of hope, of a new life brought forth, and that of freedom from this sad cycle.
Lee was carrying her fourth child when her neighbor told her about Mercy Midwives and the clinic that we operate, offering free care to all who seek a safe, compassionate birth, free from the burden of a fee for services rendered. Lee had a safe delivery at our birth center and her newborn was given both the Hepatitis B Vaccine that all newborns receive, but also the Hepatitis B immune globulin which will prevent the child from contracting this illness.
We live in an exciting time ladies and gentlemen. We now have a way to prevent one of the ways that this disease is spread, from mother to child. Please join us by supporting our work here in the Philippines. You can be a part of a new hope for our future.
*** Names changed to protect the family's privacy. Pictures shown are of the women we care for but not of Rosalie or her family.
By Vicki Penwell | Founder and Director, Mercy In Action
By Vicki Penwell | Founder and Executive Director; Midwife
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
