Every Mother Counts/Midwives for Haiti Partnership

Every Mother Counts and Midwives for Haiti are teaming up to increase the number of midwives available to assist pregnant women in Haiti. Midwives for Haiti teaches Haitian women the midwifery skills that turn them into skilled birth attendants.   Because of a lack of skilled care, Haitian women die in childbirth at alarming rates.  By training Haitian women to provide skilled birth assistance to women in their own communities, Midwives for Haiti is saving mothers’ lives, expanding women’s job skills and economic development and empowering women to improve the health of their communities. That’s why Every Mother Counts is providing a grant of $54,000 to Midwives for Haiti to train 15 midwives beginning in January 2013.  

Our interest in Midwives for Haiti started when we traveled to Haiti last year with Partners in Health and got to know some of their on-site staff.  We’ve stayed in touch and been inspired watching their midwifery class of 2012 learn their craft, graduate and take their skills back to their communities.  We knew we wanted to be part of the team that’s saving the lives of Haitian women.

Even before the devastating earthquake of 2010, childbirth for women in Haiti was extremely dangerous. The World Health Organization estimates the chances of dying from childbirth in Haiti are 1 in 17.  Most of these deaths are due to pregnancy-induced hypertension, eclampsia, sepsis, and postpartum hemorrhage. The Ministry of Health in Haiti recognizes that distance, lack of transportation and lack of information prevent many women from getting to medical facilities in time to save their lives.  But The World Health Organization has found that having access to skilled birth attendants means the difference between life and death for women and their babies.

In January 2013, Midwives for Haiti will open a new 10-month training program for 15 students. The cost for training each student is approximately $3,600.  Every Mother Counts’ grant covers the fees to sponsor all 15 students. Upon graduation in November 2013, these 15 midwives will be able to safely attend labors and deliver approximately 100 women per year in their own communities. 

We’ll get to meet with and interview the new class of students, profile their stories and provide updates for the EMC community throughout their training. Being able to offer this grant, which will have such a direct impact on the lives of women in Haiti, (both mothers’ and midwifery students’), goes a long way toward making Every Mother Counts vision a reality.  Your support and contributions mean you’re part of making a difference in the lives of girls, mothers and midwives too.  So thank you. And please, check back often as we bring you these updated stories about the change YOU have helped to bring about.