This year Advent International is supporting Partners In Health to bring lifesaving health care to women in need. Poverty makes womanhood, motherhood, and early childhood dangerous, even fatal, when basic care is too far and expensive to access. We must expand access to women's health care in Haiti, Malawi, even the Navajo Nation, right here at home. That means family planning, safe births, and the regular check-ups every family deserves.
Every day, 830 women die in pregnancy or childbirth-nearly all lived in poor nations. It doesn't have to be this way. Tragically high rates of maternal and child mortality are in part due to a shortage of clinicians in poor places, particularly those specializing in obstetrics & gynecology. We must expand access to women's health care in Haiti, Malawi, even the Navajo Nation, right here at home. That means family planning, safe births, and the regular check-ups every family deserves.
PIH's maternal health program is comprised of a network of 12,000 community health workers who accompany women through pregnancy and to appointments at PIH hospitals and clinics. There, doctors identify and treat women for pre-existing conditions, from hypertension to HIV. Nurses care for patients staying at maternal waiting homes, which guarantee clinic-based births for women who live far away. Trained midwives support women through labor. And surgeons perform lifesaving C-sections.
PIH helps defeat the unique dangers faced by women and children, and makes room for life's unique joys. Worldwide, PIH supports 82 maternal waiting homes that allow women to welcome their babies safely. And in 2017, we provided more than 30,000 safe, facility-based deliveries, including 6,000 lifesaving C-sections. In addition to providing lifesaving care, PIH invests heavily in clinical education programs. Graduates become leaders in their home hospitals, improving the care for families.
