Call to Action: Women’s Health

I am taking a break today from the questions of breastfeeding twins to look more broadly at women’s health, and access to maternal health care. As so many moms of multiples know, birth can sometimes come with complications. In industrialized countries, those complications can typically be managed through varying levels of medical intervention — from medications and bedrest to hospitalization and surgery.

However, women in developing countries often do not have access to those resources.  In countries such as Haiti, maternal mortality rates are high, and the situation worsened with the devastating earthquake two years ago.  As a lactation consultant – and as a mother – I am particularly concerned about women’s access to maternity care in times of crisis.  Birth outcomes impact breastfeeding – and maternal survival is critical for infant wellbeing.

I am partnering with the birth advocacy group BirthSwell and the nonprofit organization Circle of Health International on a campaign to support midwifery training in the Fond Parisien area of Haiti.  Midwife Karen Feltham is a Clinical Instructor of Nursing at Binghamton University, and a volunteer with Circle of Health International. She visited Haiti shortly after the massive earthquake two years ago to help provide maternity care to women in around Fond Parisien, Haiti (30 miles east of Port-au-Prince), and is volunteering her time and expertise for a return trip this month.  BirthSwell is coordinating a grassroots fundraising campaign to cover Karen’s travel expenses and room and board so she can spend ten days providing ongoing education and training to the Haitian midwives who staff the area’s birth clinic. The goal of the campaign is to bring in many small donations, which will add up to help us reach our goal and get Karen to Haiti.

We need your help!

• Contribute online: Starting with a donation of $10, you can help send Karen to Haiti! Generous items (handmade jewelry, works of art, and more) have also been donated as perks for donors offering $20, $35, $50 and $100 gifts.
• Share the cause through via Facebook and connect with COHI’s page.
• Promote the fundraiser via Twitter, using the hashtag #GetKarenThere!
• Learn more! Circle of Health International (COHI) is a US-based NGO whose mission is to work with women and their communities in times of crisis and disaster to ensure access to quality reproductive, maternal, and newborn care. Check out BirthSwell for more information on the fundraising campaign, read an interview with Karen on the Our Bodies Ourselves Blog, and donate to help get Karen to Haiti.