Martha's Story
You may have seen the recent report from the World Health Organization confirming that every 2 minutes a mother dies in pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after birth.
Long-standing social norms prevent women from accessing important health services. Common myths and limited knowledge affect women’s choices. Overstretched health services mean workers have little time to help.
Yet silence, shame, and stigma kill. Every 50 minutes another person dies of AIDS-related illnesses.
These deaths are preventable. HIV is treatable.
Martha was diagnosed with HIV when she was pregnant. She was worried her baby would be positive.
Her community group provides vital support to help Martha get the treatment she needs. The groups share knowledge and encourage pregnant women to get tested for HIV.
Martha and her family take antiretroviral drugs, stopping the virus, allowing the immune system to repair itself and prevent further damage.
This means Martha can live with HIV. She can raise and care for her children. Through treatment, the children are happy, healthy and HIV negative. Martha explains:
“In our group we learnt about prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.
"They act like a support group for me. Once I missed my treatment. The group encouraged me to start again. My babies were given treatment too, meaning I could breastfeed them.
“Our group raises awareness of early testing. The groups improve life for families. They know about HIV treatment and how condoms can prevent it.
"Women are encouraged to attend groups by the village heads. Men are supporting us too.”
Community health groups can halve maternal mortality and reduce newborn mortality by a third. This is only possible thanks to kind supporters like you.
You can help us save the lives of young, vulnerable mothers and their wonderful children by making a gift to our Mother’s Day appeal.
Women and Children First is making it easier to support us than ever before. We now accept donations via PayPal, or you can set up a monthly or quarterly gift via direct debit from your bank account.
£20 a month could cover the cost for 48 women and mothers-to-be to attend their local health group for 30 days.
