International Women’s Day - March 8, 2007

Maternal Health and Nutrition

Maternal Health

USAID improves the health and quality of life of millions of women and children worldwide through its investments in maternal and neonatal health programs and remains at the forefront of global efforts to reduce maternal mortality and disability, with a number of USAID-assisted countries achieving significant results. USAID's Maternal Health Program works in the following areas:

• Training of health workers to care for pregnant women; provide quality care during child birth and care for the mother and child after birth; Iron, zinc, vitamin A, and iodine micronutrient programs; and many others

• Special Deliveries: Portrait of a Village Midwife [PDF, 114KB]
  Ibu Ratna is the midwife of her village’s birthing clinic in Lam Gaboh, Banda Aceh. She has been helping women give birth for 11 years. The midwife attributes her life-saving skills to the training she received from USAID. Ratna always knew what she was going to do. “It was a calling,” she explains. 
  


• Addressing Fistula in Uganda: Stories of Survival and Hope [PDF, 137KB]
  In Uganda, USAID though the ACQUIRE Project, is strengthening services to repair and prevent obstetric fistula. By linking public district hospitals with private faith-based institutions in Masaka and Kasese districts, ACQUIRE is supporting local public/private partnerships to:
• Improve providers' fistula repair and care skills
• Establish linkages to family planning and related reproductive health services to clients as they embark on rehabilitation and reintegration
• Work at the community level to support prevention efforts
  


• Single Mothers’ Radio Listening Club Demonstrates the Power of Women [PDF, 101KB]
  Under the leadership of Ms. Cissy Kakyomya, in 2004 the Kitanyata Single Mothers’ Radio Listening Club was formed with 35 members in response to a call by the Ministry of Health and the USAID-funded UPHOLD Project. The club gathers on a regular basis and listens to radio programs on a variety of health, primary education, and HIV/AIDS topics and uses their collective energy as single mothers to assist widows, orphans, school leavers, and the elderly through education.  After the first year, the membership of the club had grown hugely and they were able to take on even more initiatives.
  

Nutrition

USAID’s nutrition programs have helped to decrease hunger and serious malnutrition rates throughout the developing world.  Good nutrition can lead to an impressive range of benefits for women including improved survival, health, development, and work capacity. USAID's Nutrition Program

Success Story

• Reducing Anemia in Adolescent Girls [PDF, 69KB]
  As a result of a national anemia survey, the Helen Keller Institute (HKI) with funding from USAID and in collaboration with Africare, implemented a pilot program in the Dinguiraye region of Guinea to reduce anemia and improve nutritional knowledge, attitudes and practices in adolescent school girls.