Organizations Making a Difference
In a World of 7 Billion

Improving maternal and child health

Healthy mothers and children are at the heart of a strong community. But women and children are disproportionately affected by poor health outcomes in developing countries. Direct Relief supports more than 130 partners worldwide who focus on improving health care access and services for women and children, including prenatal care; safe, attended delivery; emergency obstetrics; family planning; and access to basic medicines, supplies, and nutritional support.

Simple, inexpensive interventions often improve the health of mothers and their babies. For example, Direct Relief supports partners who provide obstetric fistula treatment programs, including a surgery that helps restore a woman's health following a traumatic injury sustained during prolonged, obstructed labor.

Direct Relief supports programs that train and equip midwives, who are often the only source of care for pregnant women in the developing world when they are ready to deliver. With proper training and basic tools, midwives significantly increase the chance for a clean, safe delivery that allows mother and baby to thrive.

In a complicated delivery, emergency obstetric care becomes necessary. A life-saving intervention like a cesarean section, while common in the developed world, isn't possible without the proper equipment. Direct Relief has outfitted surgical suites in Africa and Latin America with core equipment such as ultrasounds, fetal monitors, birthing beds, incubators, baby scales, improved surgical tools, and basic medicines and supplies. The goal of these critical interventions is to improve women's access to quality care.