Project Title: Midwives Save Lives

Location: Haiti

Grant Amount: $50,000

Grantee Website: www.midwivesforhaiti.org

Areas of Impact: Health

Mission of Midwives for Haiti
It is the mission of Midwives for Haiti to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in Haiti by training Haitian women in the skills needed to save lives.

Summary
Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere, largely due to a lack of sufficiently trained midwives or skilled birth attendants. Midwives for Haiti seeks to reduce both maternal and neonatal mortality by training skilled birth attendants. Graduates of the 10 month training course are taught to identify and treat many complications of pregnancy and birth. These birth assistants attend to births at home and in hospitals and clinics. Graduates are in very high demand in rural villages and local hospitals and they are the healthcare providers of the mobile clinics operated by Midwives for Haiti which serve 400+ women a month.

Why We Love This
We love this program because it focuses on maternal and neonatal heath, addressing a real need in Haiti while providing training and a well respected vocation for many women. We also love the fact that they staff a mobile clinic; a pink jeep that allows them to see over 400 rural women in 16 villages a month.