The pregnant women in the Ugandan villages are often adolescent girls who should be worried about tomorrow’s spelling test or having silly talks with their girlfriends.  Sometimes they are married women or young women forced into their situation. Nonetheless, they inspire me because despite many obstacles they carry on without showing much fear. With very little to no exposure to prenatal care or access to delivery services or emergency obstetric care, these young women appear to be fearless and ready to face their future, which may include a motorcycle ride on uneven dirt roads, while in labor, to the nearest medical facility.

However, according to experts, adolescent mothers are twice as likely as older mothers to die during childbirth and only 41% of births are attended by skilled personnel. Furthermore, most of those young mothers are poor, uneducated, and are more likely to deliver at home than in a hospital which puts them at the highest risk of death.

“Pregnant adolescents are in a dark void of helplessness and hopelessness, waiting to be rescued,” says Dr. Olive Ssentumbwe Mugisa, the WHO advisor on family and population health.

A young mother-to-be should never feel hopeless.  One of my wishes for these young women is that they have a safe place where they can learn about pregnancy, the importance of prenatal care, and a skilled person or doctor who can deliver the baby in any situation.

Since its founding, Just Like My Child Foundation and Bishop Asili Hospital have been providing pre-natal care and education and most emergency obstetrical interventions, including C-sections, ultrasound diagnosis, infrastructure for blood supply and AIDS treatment and medical staff to care for post-partum mother and child.

I am very happy to report the maternal mortality rate in the catchment area of Bishop Asili has been drastically reduced because of access to this care. A gleaming new surgical facility staffed by highly trained physicians awaits a mother in any form of distress. An ultrasound machine allows doctors to diagnose quickly, and allows a mother to see her baby’s heartbeat. Two ambulances are available to bring her to the hospital if she’s waited until labor has already started, no motorcycle required.

That is Project Keep A Mother Alive. It’s as simple as educating and alleviating some fears in young expectant mothers and even seasoned veterans in motherhood. Changing a life for the better isn’t hard – Just $30 will help save a mother’s life today. By clicking here, you can donate and jump-start a new life in the right direction.

Every minute a woman dies from complications in childbirth, which is about 529,000 women each year and the majority of them are in developing countries.

A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a 1 in 4,000 risk in a developing country – the largest difference between poor and rich countries of any health indicator.

It’s hard to over-state the vulnerability of an orphaned child in the developing world. Many mothers who die in childbirth already have several children, creating instant orphans when they die. Those orphans quickly lose any social standing. If relatives take them in, the orphans are treated like slaves, pulled from school, and sent into the fields to work. If relatives are not nearby, the children live on their own, raised by their siblings in a child-headed household, with dwindling prospects of survival.

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Luis Sambo’s (WHO Regional Director of Africa) speech given during the appointment of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the Distinguished Honorary President of the Commission on Women’s Health.  Dr. Sambo illustrates the important connection between maternity mortality and the prosperity of their communities:

“Issues affecting women’s health such as physical, sexual and psychological violence, their low economic status, illiteracy, early marriage of young girls and female genital mutilation are some problems occurring daily in our societies that call for urgent and more effective attention.

Poor women’s health is further aggravated by the prevailing weak health systems leading to unacceptable high maternal mortality which is estimated at 900 per 100 000 live births in the region, and remains the highest in the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that one out of every 26 women dies from pregnancy related problems or during childbirth, compared to one woman in every 7,300 in developed countries.

Women’s role in society goes far beyond childbearing and includes other dimensions. The Liberian society demonstrates the multiple role women can play from the household level to leading the entire nation. Women need to be in good health and be given the opportunity for them to unleash their potential for social and economic prosperity.”

At Just Like My Child we have created grassroots programs that are addressing and solving the women’s issues that Dr. Luis Sambo speaks about.  Our Keep a Mother Alive program works closely with Asili Hospital in rural Uganda to tackle the staggering statistics. Through this program, we provide pre-natal care and education, community outreach, malaria prevention, and most significantly, emergency obstetrical interventions, including: C-sections, ultrasound diagnosis, and infrastructure for blood supply and AIDS treatment.

Our results to date have been gratifying. The maternal mortality rate in the catchment area of Asili Hospital has been drastically reduced.  Most importantly, dark stories of tragedy and death have been transformed into thousands of joyful endings. 

If you share Just Like My Child’s passion for keeping a mother healthy throughout her pregnancy and for the safe delivery of her unborn child, please support our efforts with a tax-deductible donation by clicking here.

To read Dr. Luis Sambo’s entire speech, click here: Launch of the Regional Commission on Women’s Health in the African region.

Three years ago, maternal deaths at the hospital were astronomical due to lack of proper medical care, surgery equipment, medical doctors, and an ambulance to transport women who were experiencing obstetrical emergencies. While no one knows for sure what the true rate of maternal mortality is in the villages deep in the bush, the hospital reports a marked improvement in outcomes for women who DO reach the hospital in time.

When I first arrived at Bishop Asili,Hospital in 2006, women were turned away from the hospital by the dozen because there was no way to serve them. Today, a gleaming new surgery centre, trained medical doctors, and adequate instruments for C-sections and laparatomies have turned tragic stories into stories of joy and hope. Women and children who would have otherwise died are now emerging from surgeries with healthy babies, hope, a community that supports them, and a future filled with hope. It’s a miracle to watch.

Simple interventions are what have changed the staggering statistics of maternal mortality.

Less than $50,000 has drastically reduced maternal deaths for a community of over 30,000 people. (Photo by Vivian Glyck)

My hero, New York Times op-ed writer Nick Kristof, has again, told it like it really is. While traveling in Sierra Leone this week, he stopped at a rural hospital and wrote, among other things,

“One of the most dangerous things an African woman can do is become pregnant.”

When I first arrived at Bishop Asili Hospital in Luwero, Uganda, in May 2006, I couldn’t believe that a pregnant woman could come to this hospital and be turned away in the midst of an emergency obstetrical situation because the hospital just couldn’t treat her. I witnessed with my own eyes the horror in a young mother’s eyes as she knew that this was her death sentence.

It just about bent my brain to think of how serene and pre-meditated my son’s birth by c-section had been — the doting staff let me pick the music in the O.R., made sure the lights wouldn’t glare too directly in my baby’s eyes when he was extracted, and so on. At the end of it all, my newborn son would have died of a collapsed lung if he couldn’t be rushed into neonatal intensie care and administered oxygen and 24-hour care.

I am so joyful to say that in just 2 short years, the hiring of a skilled surgeon, a small clean room, and some key surgical supplies have drastically reduced the incidence of maternal mortality for a community of over 30,000 people. We have still got a long way to go since we need a real, sterile operating and recovery room, blood transfusions, and so much more.

But as Dr. Charles Lwanga, chief and only doctor and surgeon at Bishop Asili says, “We need to think big and start small.” And so we have!

Vivian Glyck, Executive Director, www.JustLikeMyChild.org

An I.V. had to be inserted into her head because all of her other veins were collapsed from dehydration.

As I stood watching helplessly, all I could think of was:

“What would I do if this was my child?”

One evening last month when I was in Uganda, I met a beautiful little girl named Violet at the Bishop Asili Hospital. She was seven months old and was just fat enough to let you know that she was well taken care of.

As soon as her eyes met mine, she turned to her mother, as if to ask, “who is this very different-looking creature?”

I was probably the first and last white woman she would ever see.

Dr. Charles Lwanga was trying to locate a vein anywhere on Violet’s tiny body to begin hydration and first line Malaria treatment. A lab test had diagnosed her with Malaria. The fluid depletion caused by high fever and other symptoms of Malaria make a baby’s veins virtually disappear. Violet’s head had to be shaved in search of a vein that can be entered. Treatment can’t begin until a viable vein is located.

In Violet’s case, the treatment came too late. In the middle of the night, Violet passed away.

Malaria from the type of mosquito found in Uganda can kill in as little as 36 hours. Even faster in a little baby.

It was a grim day, if I were Violet’s mother, I couldn’t have gone forward with life. Period. End of Story. I would have lost my will to live. But it made my resolution even stronger to stop this preventable and treatable disease from ever affecting babies like Violet in the first place.

Every 30 seconds a child dies of Malaria, a completely preventable and treatable disease.

The Just Like My Child Foundation has already distributed enough insecticide-treated bed nets to protect 45,000 children under five and pregnant mothers. We’re making a huge impact, but we desperately need your help to continue to save the lives of babies like Violet.

It’s so easy to make difference, it’s kind of crazy.

What can you do? For the price of a mocha latte you can save a life.

It only costs $10 to distribute an insecticide-treated bed net that protects up to 3 children from the bite of a mosquito at night — the time when they are most active.

Three little girls receive their insecticide-treated bed nets

$10         = 3 children protected from Malaria
$100       = 30 children protected from Malaria
$1000     = 300 children protected from Malaria

We purchase the nets ourselves and make sure they get right to the families who need them most.

The Just Like My Child Foundation works directly with communities on the ground to get funding and programs to the people who need it most. We don’t work through corrupt governments, we know exactly where money is going, and we are achieving remarkable results.

Help us observe World Malaria Day with a tax-deductible donation to Just Like My Child Foundation to help save the lives of babies like Violet. We welcome of course any amount you want to give, we just want to hear from you.

We know these are challenging times, but there’s no limit to what we can do if we pull together.

With Warmest Wishes,
Vivian Glyck
Founder and Executive Director
Just Like My Child Foundation

www.JustLikeMyChild.org