mother’s day..., drucker institute executive director: “ [direct relief’s] fundamental...

Mother Turned MidwifeANSWERING THE CALL TO PROTECT

PREGNANT WOMEN IN SIERRA LEONE.

+ Meet a local fistula survivor & FIND OUT WHAT SHE’S DOING TO FIGHT

FISTULA WORLDWIDE

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Mother’s Day begins with a safe birth. HONOR THE MOTHER IN YOUR LIFE BY PROTECTING ANOTHER.

$25 = 1 SAFE BIRTH

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THIS REPORT WAS PAID FOR BY A GENEROUS BEQUEST

Mothers and babies await care at the Direct Relief- supported Makon Koire Community Health Post in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone. Direct Relief equipped 130 midwives in Sierra Leone in April, 2013.

DIRECTRELIEF.ORG

A GREAT GIFT FOR

Mother's DayP/6

IT’S STAGGERING that a woman dies every two minutes from

complications during pregnancy or childbirth—more than 250,000

women each year. That’s why Direct Relief’s humanitarian health efforts

place particular emphasis on protecting women through the critical

periods of pregnancy and childbirth.

Mother’s Day

WHY MIDWIVES?

The best way to keep mothers safe is to make sure every birth is accompanied by a trained and equipped professional. Midwives are the first line of assistance, providing high-quality care during routine deliveries, managing basic complications, and recognizing when to refer a mother to emergency obstetric care.

But they can only do their work if they have the right tools. Direct Relief equips midwives with the tools they need. With your help, for $25, Direct Relief can provide a midwife with the tools needed to protect a mother and bring a baby safely into the world.

BEGINS WITH A SAFE BIRTH

send mom an e-card

Honor the mother in your life by

protecting another. $25 = 1 SAFE BIRTHdirectrelief.org

THE WAYS Direct Relief helps moms thrive. EQUIPPING MIDWIVES

EXPANDING EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC CARE

INCREASING LIFE-RESTORING

SURGERIES FOR WOMEN WITH FISTULA

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“You don’t send a farmer to the field without a hoe. And you can’t send a midwife to the community

without the tools she needs.”

See video and learn more ABOUT THE SIERRA LEONE MIDWIVES AT DirectRelief.org

Mother Turned MidwifeANSWERING THE CALL TO PROTECT PREGNANT WOMEN IN SIERRA LEONE

Carrying a large banner declaring “The

World Needs Midwives Now More Than

Ever” the processional of midwifery

graduates and students filed into the

School of Midwifery graduation ceremo-

ny, singing, “No, no, no pregnant woman

should die when she is giving birth…we

are going to stop that in Sierra Leone.”

Marie T. Sheriff, the President of

the Student Union Association of the

School of Midwifery, graduated at the

top of class of 66 midwives—the sec-

ond class to be graduated by the school

since April of 2012.

“As a woman and a mother I am

happy for my sisters out there because

I know more hands have been added to

help them go through pregnancy and

have a safe delivery,” said Marie. “[Mid-

wifery] is a passion to me.”

Sierra Leone desperately needs mid-

wives. The West-African country has

some of the highest maternal and infant

mortality rates in the world, the most

recent data (2008) indicating 847 mater-

nal deaths per 100,000 live births. The

majority of these deaths are preventable,

and having a trained and equipped mid-

wife present during delivery is one of the

most critical interventions to save lives.

This fact was not lost on the grad-

uates and dignitaries at the ceremony—

the midwives committed themselves to

doing whatever was in their power to al-

ways provide quality and compassion-

ate care, and to bringing Sierra Leone

up from its undesirable position at the

bottom of the index for maternal and

infant mortality.

Direct Relief ensures that mid-

wives are equipped with the right tools

to provide life-saving antenatal, deliv-

ery, and post-partum care. All graduates

from the School of Midwifery in Makeni

are equipped with a Direct Relief Mid-

wife Kit that contains essential equip-

ment and supplies that can be used at

the community health center where

they are posted following their training.

“You don’t send a farmer to the

field without a hoe. And you can’t send

a midwife to the community without

the tools she needs,” said Marie. “To be

a midwife, given the skills and knowl-

edge, and now the tools are given to

me—the Midwife Kit. It’s a great thing

for me.”

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Marie T. Sheriff, center, in cap and gown, graduates

from the Direct Relief-supported

School of Midwifery in Makeni, Sierra

Leone in April 2013.

SPRING 2013 DIRECTRELIEF.ORG 3

THE WAYS Direct Relief IS HELPING FIGHT FISTULA

PROVIDING ESSENTIAL MEDICAL & SURGICAL SUPPLIESTO ENABLE LIFE-RESTORING FISTULA REPAIR SURGERY

THE GLOBAL FISTULA MAPTHE LARGEST SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON FISTULA TREATMENT CAPACITY WORLDWIDE

IMPROVING ACCESS TO TREATMENT

Help Fight Fistula & RESTORE DIGNITY WORLDWIDE

WHAT IS FISTULA?

Obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal caused by prolonged

and obstructed labor. If untreated, a woman with obstetric

fistula will experience constant and uncontrollable leakage of

urine and/or feces. Many women with fistula suffer humiliation,

isolation, and stigma as a result of the smell and constant

leakage. And in most cases of obstructed labor in which a

fistula develops, the baby is stillborn.

Each year, an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 new cases

develop, far surpassing the global capacity for treatment. The

gap is widening for women suffering from obstetric fistula.

HOPE AMID A LOSING BATTLE

However slowly, efforts to improve coverage of skilled providers

at birth and increase access to emergency obstetric care to

manage complications during deliveries are helping prevent

new cases of fistula. And Direct Relief is helping to broaden

the availability of fistula treatment with targeted material

support in areas where more doctors are becoming trained to

provide fistula repair surgery and more women with fistula are

identified and referred to treatment.

THE GLOBAL FISTULA MAP

Direct Relief, in partnership with the United Nations Population

Fund (UNFPA) and The Fistula Foundation, developed the Global

Fistula Map—the first-ever worldwide map of treatment for

this devastating childbirth injury—to help better understand

the current fistula treatment capacity, more effectively target

scarce resources to where they are needed most, and identify

where gaps in service may exist.

For Direct Relief, the Global Fistula Map helps the

organization know where fistula surgery is available, allowing

increased support of medical surgical supplies to those

treatment facilities, a critical component in helping sustain

and expand their ability to provide care to women in need.

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Coming ForwardWITH MILLIONS OF WOMEN SUFFERING IN SILENCE, A LOCAL FISTULA SURVIVOR SPEAKS OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME


FISTULA REPAIR PROVIDERSGynocare Fistula Center, KenyaNyanza Provincial General Hospital, Kenya Jamaa Mission Hospital, Kenya Danja Fistula Center, NigerSoroti Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda Bugando Medical Center, Tanzania JFK Medical Center, Liberia Bwaila Maternity Hospital, MalawiEdna Adan University Hospital, SomalilandNational Borama Fistula Hospital, Somaliland Benadir Hospital, SomaliaAddis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia Cox’s Baazar Hospital, BangladeshKoohi Goth Hospital, Pakistan

PARTNERS IN FISTULA REPAIR

FOUNDATION AND NONPROFIT PARTNERSThe Green Park FoundationFistula FoundationFreedom From Fistula FoundationOne By One WAHA International Worldwide Fistula Fund

CORPORATE SUPPORTERSAnsellBaxterBD Ethicon CovidienCR BardJohnson & Johnson Henry Schein Hospira

GET INVOLVED

May 23rd THE FIRST

INTERNATIONAL DAY TO END OBSTETRIC

FISTULA

Check back later this month at DirectRelief.org

or like us on Facebook

“There are millions of women out there who suffer from this condition and are ignored or left silent. I don’t have to be.”

indy Reed developed an obstetric fistula when she was giving birth to her first child, Stephanie,

33 years ago. Fortunately, Stephanie survived the complicated birth, and Cindy was able to receive fistula-repair surgery five months later. Last year, Stephanie recently joined Direct Relief’s staff and shared with her mom the work Direct Relief and its partners are doing to fight fistula worldwide. That inspired Cindy to speak for the first time publically about her experience with fistula. For more of Cindy’s story, visit DirectRelief.org.

Direct Relief: Can you put into words what it feels like to have a

fistula?

Cindy Reed: hysically, I don’t recall any pain associated with

it, but I felt like it was some kind of punishment, something

to be ashamed of.

DR: What did you have to do during your time with fistula, before

your surgery?

CR: Just trying to be careful where I sat or who I was around. What

type of social environment I was in. Obviously I couldn’t work. I

luckily didn’t have to face being in that day-to-day environment.

I was very limited in what I would do. Steph and I spent a lot of

time in the house, at the park, any wide open spaces.

DR: Why are you coming forward with your story now?

CR: There are millions of women out there who suffer from

this condition and are ignored or left silent. I don’t have to be.

I know Direct Relief and its partners are making a real effort

to end fistula and restore dignity to women living with fistula.

I want to help and I think sharing my story can do that.

DR: When did you find out that this was, in fact, a much larger

problem worldwide?

CR: Probably 15-20 years afterward. I went back to college in

2000, minoring in sociology and that’s when I really started

learning about it and its prevalence in the world.

DR: What was it like for you to find out your daughter was

working for an organization focused on ending fistula?

CR: We talked about how it seemed meant to be that she

would be working for a place that is working on this issue and

that this happened during her birth.

DR: If you were to meet one of these women living with fistula,

how do you think that would go?

CR: I think I would have this instant connection with them.

Almost like a kindred spirit.

DR: Is there anything else about your story that you want people

to know?

CR: That it was still worth it.

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Direct Relief’s Stephanie Drake, with her mother, Cindy Reed, who developed an obstetric fistula while giving birth to Stephanie.

From the desk of

EDYTHE!Fresh off turning 105 years-young and Facebook

celebrity, Direct Relief-volunteer Edythe

Kirchmaier is leading out Direct Relief’s maternal

and child health work in May. With more

than 250,000 women dying in pregnancy and

childbirth each year, Edythe is challenging all of

us to reverse that trend. With your help, for $25

Direct Relief can provide a midwife with the tools

needed to protect a mother and bring a baby

safely into the world.

join edythe

See video of Edythe’s challenge at

Facebook.com/DirectRelief and visit DirectRelief.org

to get involved.

send mom an e-card

Honor the mother in your life by

protecting another. $25 = 1 SAFE BIRTHdirectrelief.org

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Edythe gets a hand at her volunteer letter writing from her great-granddaughter, Clara, at Direct Relief.


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LARGE U.S. CHARITIES.

rick wartzman, Drucker Institute Executive Director:

“ [Direct Relief’s] fundamental insight—to take the best in private-sector technology and uniquely adapt

it for the social sector—has greatly strengthened a weak link in the medical supply chain…Its efforts

demonstrate that social-sector organizations can achieve the very highest levels of efficiency.”

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Kendall Bishop • Sharon Bradford • Lawrence Dam • Dante Di Loreto Patty DeDominic • Hon. Paul G. Flynn • Gregg L. Foster • Dorothy Gardner Ernest J. Getto • J. Michael Giles • Linda Gluck • Bert Green, M.D. Raye Haskell • W. Scott Hedrick • Angel Iscovich, M.D. Nancy Walker Koppelman • Donald J. Lewis • Mari Mitchel Jeanne Newman • Rick Roney • Barbara Rubin • Mark Schwartz Mary Louise Scully, M.D. • George Short • Gary R. Tobey

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mom AN E-CARD

$25= 1 SAFE BIRTH

DirectRelief.org

send mom an e-card Honor the mother in your life by protecting another. $25 = 1 SAFE BIRTH

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mother’s day..., drucker institute executive director: “ [direct relief’s] fundamental...

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