Sierra Leone is one of the toughest places in the world to be a mother, with one in 23 women dying in childbirth. This project will improve access to maternal and child healthcare for women, adolescent girls and children under five in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Thanks to BRAC's partnerships with other donors, contributions to this project have extraordinary leverage: Funding of $22,000 raised through GlobalGiving will be matched and multiplied, unlocking $76,500 to reach 3,975 women.
Despite seeing substantial economic growth since the end of the civil wars in 2002 and 2003, Liberia and Sierra Leone have few reproductive health facilities and a lack of skilled health professionals. Low reproductive health awareness further reduces the education and employment prospects of poor women and girls.
BRAC's innovative community health model has helped reduce maternal and infant mortality in Bangladesh to a staggering degree. We are bringing these same systems to Sierra Leone and Liberia, giving women and adolescent girls the tools needed to access information about reproductive health, contraception and antenatal care. This project will expand the health program to rural areas, engage men in women's health issues, and train our community health staff to provide a comprehensive range of care.
This project will save the lives of mothers, empower women and lead to greater prosperity for communities lifting themselves out of poverty. Improved knowledge of and access to these services will result in reduced illness and better family planning. Smaller families with increased overall health will have more disposable income to allocate to nutrition and education. Women and girls who can control motherhood, are able to pursue further education or income-generating activities.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
