Building the Foundations for Maternity Care in Malawi

Building the Foundations for Maternity Care in Malawi

The Freedom From Fistula Foundation was founded by Ann Gloag in 2008 to help women and girls who are injured in childbirth.

The Charity provides free surgeries to repair obstetric fistulas which are caused by prolonged, obstructed childbirth and leave women incontinent, often living in shame and isolation having been outcast by their families and friends.

There are an estimated 2 million women living with obstetric fistula in Africa and, in addition to treating patients already suffering, the Freedom From Fistula Foundation is working hard to prevent fistulas happening in the first place, through our maternity unit in Sierra Leone and midwifery training across a number of our sites.  We have our own projects in Sierra Leone, Kenya and Malawi, with a project in Liberia starting soon.  We have also helped fund treatment in Ethopia and Zambia.

Maternal deaths can be as high as 1 in 6 in Africa and, for those who survive, 1 woman every 2 seconds is injured or disabled in childbirth.  Better maternity care, and access to it, is crucial to prevent obstetric fistulas and the provision of trained midwives is critical to this process.

In a recent meeting with the new President of Malawi, Ann Gloag learned that maternity care in the country could be transformed with the training of 200 new midwives.  It will cost $2000 to train each midwife for two years (approx