Eliminating Childbirth Injuries
Dedicated to the treatment and prevention of childbirth injuries
Maternal Health Fund believes childbirth injuries are best eliminated by focusing on prevention. Preventing injuries means mothers deliver healthy babies and avoid complications. And by building capacity, with local partners, our work is effective and lasting.
The reason we focus on eliminating childbirth injuries is because they destroy women’s dignity. They first rob women of their strength and drain them emotionally. Secondly, the constant leaking and smell separates them from their families and communities.
Maternal Health Fund builds and supports women’s hospitals enabling safe childbirths. Much of our work is in sub Saharan Africa because these countries lack well-established women’s health care.
History
Maternal Health Fund began in 2010 by supporting the work of pioneering doctors Reginald and Catherine Hamlin. Because their work was effective and inspirational many worldwide non-profit organizations worked together. As a result, many fistula surgeons trained under them. To continue expansion beyond the Hamlin hospital, in 2019 we changed our name from Hamlin Fistula USA to Maternal Health Fund. Our Vision has been and will always be, ‘A world without childbirth injuries’. No childbirth injuries means healthy babies and healthy mothers, no infant deaths and no obstetric fistulas.
In Ethiopia our focus is now on prevention. MHF supports doctors’ education with a urogynecology fellowship program. We also support midwives by improving their clinics. This is done by supplying equipment, water and clean delivery rooms. To improve women’s health we work with others that have similar goals. Most importantly, these include local social leaders, other NGO’s and regional health bureaus.
In Uganda our funding and leadership resulted in the construction of a 30-bed women’s hospital. MHF and other NGOs worked together to build this hospital. By working with others the hospital’s construction took less than two years. The Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital now treats hundreds of women, with fistula, each year. By continuing to support Terrewode we expect it to ramp to treating 600 women per year.
In summary, Maternal Health Fund works with others on prevention so that all mothers can delivery healthy babies.