Enfants du Monde health programmes

Throughout the world, one woman and over seven babies die every minute from complications linked to pregnancy or childbirth.

Enfants du Monde saves the lives of thousands of pregnant women, mothers and babies:

• by improving the quality of health care and training medical staff;
• by facilitating access to health services, which are often located far from villages;
• by organising health information sessions to teach women and their families to take better care of themselves and of their newborn children.
  
  

Leticia Flores, the mother of Yulisa Beralis, Salvador:
"I have four children.  Only Yulisa Beralis was born in hospital. In information sessions we were taught the importance of medical supervision throughout pregnancy and during and after childbirth. These days, pregnant women are encouraged by families and midwives to go to hospital. In our village, maternal mortality is a thing of the past. Moreover, thanks to regular and now free checkups babies rarely get diarrhoea or pneumonia."

Enfants du Monde supports programmes in Salvador, Burkina Faso and Bangladesh in cooperation with local partners, Health Ministries in the target countries, the World Health Organisation, the Pan American Health Organisation, UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund. This global approach ensures that maternal and child health programmes will be sustainable and have long-term effects.

All of the health programmes supported by Enfants du Monde apply the World Health Organisation health care approach, which is to "working with individuals, families and communities to improve maternal and newborn health" (IFC). This approach seeks to develop the capacity of individuals, families and communities to take more responsibility and to look after themselves, while at the same time facilitating access to health care.