We envision a world where no woman fears death when giving life.

With 1 in 11 women in Afghanistan dying from childbirth and circumstances in other countries showing statistics in the same direction, we have a crisis on our hands.  Developing world mothers commonly accept the fact that they or their babies will die in the process of childbirth.  They manage their fear of this event with noble poise, but we believe the danger should be eliminated.  Like the USA and Europe, developing countries can also end preventable death and disability.

Mission

For the world to be the way we envision it, we need to attack the underlying inequalities that drive the injustice of preventable maternal death.  This means

Empowering the most vulnerable – By focusing on women with fistula, we are starting with the people worst affected by the perfect storm of inequality. If obstetric fistula is present in a community, nearly all other inequities that affect women and girls are there as well.  We find women at there lowest point, get them treated and provide an environment where they can rebuild themselves.

Attacking inequality without alienation – We empower communities through the individual.  This further strengthens the individual and facilitates her complete reintegration.  We systematically address all inequalities present in a community without judgment, without pointing fingers.  We show a better way through incentives and explanation.

Encouraging cooperation – A great deal of death and disability could be avoided by a community to health care continuum that worked together.  In many cases there is gratuitous competition that costs lives.  We work to reduce that competition by engaging different elements of the value chain in skills-specific activities.