Every Mother’s Dream
We bring lifesaving safe motherhood information to Amhara, Ethiopia’s most remote villages.
Most women here don’t have a say when it comes to pregnancy and birth.
Three out of four women we work with in Amhara are more than a 30-minute walk away from their nearest health centre – an impossible distance in labour.
For Sefi, a maternity waiting home provides the security she needs to give birth safely to a healthy newborn baby.
Sefi is pregnant with her third child in a remote village over 8 km from her nearest health centre. Sefi has one daughter but was devastated at the loss of her second child, after complications arose during a home delivery.
Like most women here, Sefi gave birth at home without access to a skilled birth attendant. Now pregnant for a third time, Sefi wants to ensure a safe delivery for her, her new baby and family.
Safe motherhood information matters.
At Sefi’s antenatal appointment, she and her midwife talk about including a maternity waiting home as part of her birth plan.
A maternity waiting home is a lifeline for women living at a distance from health centres. Women can stay at a maternity waiting home in the days leading up to labour. She will have access to round-the-clock care and give birth safely with a skilled attendant with access to emergency care if needed.
Engaging husbands and men.
Although Sefi knew a maternity waiting home was the right place for her to give birth, her husband Tadeg wasn’t supportive.
Each month, Sefi’s midwife hosts pregnancy conferences in the local village, an opportunity to engage men and the community on safe motherhood.
Sefi’s midwife screened our film Maternity Waiting Homes on our Outreach Tablets – an android tablet used by midwives to provide digital health information. Digital information helps stimulate conversations between midwives, women and men on safe motherhood.
Sefi’s midwife talked with husband Tadeg, addressing his concerns and underscoring how a stay at a maternity waiting home could ensure safe delivery of their newborn and a lifeline for Sefi. Following their discussion, Tadeg agreed Sefi should stay at a maternity waiting home in the weeks ahead of her due date.
It takes a village.
Just a few days away from labour, Sefi, her husband and their daughter are staying at the maternity waiting home. The maternity waiting home provides quality maternal care, with midwives, skilled birth attendants and doctors.
Sefi’s family can host a coffee ceremony, a sacred cultural ceremony to welcome the new baby at the maternity waiting home. In rural Amhara, many more women will attend a health centre where maternity waiting homes can offer coffee ceremonies.
We work with community champions to mobilise local resources to support coffee ceremonies at health centres like the one Sefi is staying at.
Sefi is delighted she is receiving attentive and supportive care and will be able to give birth safely to a new baby. This is every mother’s dream – the birth of a healthy newborn.
Results, 2021 – 2022
This year, our Labour at the Last Mile project in Amhara, Ethiopia provided lifesaving safe motherhood information to women and men living at the last mile of healthcare. This year alone, we:
Delivered safe motherhood information to over 30,652 people in hard-to-reach areas. This year we delivered safe motherhood information to 21,117 women and 9,535 men, doubling the number of people we reached last year. After COVID-19 lockdowns, midwives are able to host larger in-person activities, reaching many more people with in-person support. Midwives use our Outreach Tablets, a highly effective, and low-cost communication channel, to provide digital health information.
15,216 antenatal care appointments delivered and an 11% increase in the number of women who attended their fourth antenatal care appointment. During antenatal appointments, midwives discuss the benefits of maternity waiting homes, where women can stay in the weeks and days leading up to labour and the importance of giving birth at a health centre with their clients. WHO recommends women attend four antenatal care sessions to support and monitor the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby. We also worked with midwives to improve their communication skills, critical to building the bond between woman and midwife.
204 community champions galvanised to take action in support of safe motherhood. This year, we worked with champions in Yilmena Densa and East Denbia to take action in their communities. Community champion were galvanised to mobilise resources for maternal health services.
£14,500 (885,000 ETB) mobilised in local resources for maternal health services. This year, our community resource mobilisation supported the functioning of the maternity waiting homes by building grassroots sustainable support for safe motherhood. Local resources raised support the logistical running costs of maternity waiting homes. In-kind donations of grain were provided to feed women staying at maternity waiting homes.