The African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In Africa 1 in 39 women die in pregnancy and childbirth, dying needlessly of conditions which are easily treatable and avoidable, leaving around 1 million children without a mother every year.
AMREF believes that midwives are the key to good maternal health in Africa; they provide a lifeline to remote and poor communities in Africa. Access to skilled care from a trained midwife during pregnancy, childbirth and after delivery is key to saving a mother’s life and that of her child.
That’s why AMREF launched its first global campaign: the Stand Up For African Mothers campaign, to reduce maternal mortality rates across Africa. We are aiming to train an extra 15,000 midwives by 2015, each of these AMREF trained midwives can care for 500 mothers each year.
As part of this campaign, in order to give a global voice to African mothers, AMREF has chosen an African midwife, Esther Madudu to be its nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.
32-year-old Esther is a midwife at the Atirir Health Centre in Katine. She has devoted her life to caring for pregnant women and their babies. Esther works with one other colleague, and between them, they see over 150 mothers each week for ante-natal care and deliver 45-50 babies every month. It is estimated that Esther has saved over 1,000 lives in the course of her career.
I am very proud today to represent the work of the midwives in Africa and to raise awareness to the plight of African mothers, give them a voice and draw everyone’s attention to the urgent need for more midwives in Africa.
AMREF believes in a future where no woman should die giving birth; a future where African women have access to at least basic health care during pregnancy and childbirth.