Emily Watson: ‘Maternity Worldwide needs your support to help save more lives’

Not every birth is a time of comfort and joy. Actress Emily Watson (Chernobyl, Apple Tree Yard) is encouraging people to donate to Maternity Worldwide this Christmas, after first supporting us as her chosen charity on the BBC Radio 4 Appeal in 2018.

Emily says:

‘To me, Christmas means catching up with family and making time to enjoy each other’s company. Too many children in low-income countries will be without their mother this Christmas because of needless deaths in childbirth and the inability to access the standard of medical care we take for granted in the UK. Since 2002, Maternity Worldwide has been working to ensure that every woman, regardless of where she lives, can give birth safely and without fear. I would like to encourage you to donate to the Maternity Worldwide Christmas appeal, and help them continue to save lives in childbirth.’

‘As a mother, I am deeply concerned that in countries like Malawi, Ethiopia and Uganda pregnancy and childbirth are putting women’s lives at risk.’

‘There are still so many women who don’t have facilities close at hand. Maternity Worldwide needs your support to help save more lives.’

Every year 287,000 women die in childbirth. 99% of reported deaths are in low-income countries. Many women die after long, dangerous journeys, trying to give birth in makeshift buildings without the help of a midwife, and with no pain relief, antibiotics or proper sanitation. A modern-day stable in the UK may in fact be a warmer, safer and more comfortable place to deliver a baby than some of the facilities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most deaths can be avoided easily and cheaply through measures which are readily available in the UK. But good quality healthcare for many of the world’s women is still beyond their financial reach or simply inaccessible because facilities are too far away.

This year, you can buy one of our exclusive Christmas Gift Certificates from our online shop for only £27. Not only will it help women and girls in low-income countries access the high-quality maternal healthcare they need to be able to give birth safely, but it makes a fantastic, sustainable stocking filler.

Maternity Worldwide’s Christmas 2019 Appeal: Meet Mary and Joseph

After a long, hazardous journey over rough terrain, a young mother relies on the kindness of strangers to reach a safe place to deliver her baby. It’s a familiar story enacted in Nativity plays across the UK. But for Mary and Joseph Chimwanza in modern-day Malawi, it was their family’s reality.

When her labour pains started at midnight, Mary Chimwanza had to travel by bicycle rather than on a donkey, but she still faced dangers and harsh weather. Not to mention ‘three wise men’ although these turned out to be members of a Maternity Worldwide sponsored Participatory Learning Action group rather than Magi.

In Mary’s own words:

‘On our way to hospital, we met some people who were coming from the beer hole. We become scared and because of my condition, we decided to face them and explained our story – that we were rushing to the hospital for delivery. The men then decided that to escort us to the health centre. Later in our discussions with the men, we discovered that two of them belonged to the Participatory Learning Action (PLA) group in our village.’

‘My condition become worse when it started to rain and it was cold. One of the men who joined us had a raincoat which he gave me and we had to seek shelter in the nearby village until the rain became less heavy. When the rain stopped, we continued our journey to the hospital where we were assisted quickly and it did not take long before I delivered our baby, Earnest.’

In low-income countries, drawing parallels with the Christmas story is still too easy.

  • At the time of the Nativity, only the very rich sought medical help in childbirth.
    Today in sub-Saharan Africa roughly 50% of mothers give birth without the help of a midwife.
  • Many women still have to travel unacceptable distances on foot in the last stages of pregnancy or are carried over rough roads while in labour.
  • In the Bible, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable with no electricity or clean running water.
    Many clinics are still lacking even these basic facilities.

We are working so women and girls in low-income countries can access the high-quality maternal health care they need to be able to give birth safely. We train and employ local midwives so medical intervention during childbirth is available for a woman when she needs it. Our projects aim to to give access to better local healthcare facilities so no woman has to face a painful journey during labour, and we work to provide well-equipped, clean environments where skilled staff can to deliver a baby safely.

Please help us this Christmas

This year, we are asking our generous supporters, if they can, to commit to donating £27 to our Christmas 2019 Appeal. We have chosen this sum because it’s less than 1% of what a typical UK family will spend in the run-up to the festive season.

Please support us to ensure more families like Mary, Joseph and Earnest can enjoy a happy Christmas together.

Choctober is back!

Could you cancel the Cadbury’s for a whole month? Ditch the Dairy Milk and help us save the lives of mothers and their babies.

Our annual Choctober campaign is back! Ask your friends and family to sponsor your chocolate-free month, or alternatively, donate what you would otherwise have spent on sweets.

Whatever you raise will enable us to empower and support women to give birth safely. It costs, on average, just £15 to provide a safe birth and as little as £1 for a course of antibiotics to prevent infection following childbirth.

Together our small efforts can make life-changing differences.

Download your Choctober pack now

Choctober – Sponsorship Form

Choctober – Countdown Calendar

Choctober – Leaflet

To donate the money you have raised or to set up your own Choctober sponsorship page please visit JustGiving.

If you need anything else please don’t hesitate to contact us on [email protected].

Please do Tweet us @maternityww or visit our Facebook page to let us know how you’re getting on and good luck!

Our annual Choctober campaign is back!

Could you cancel the Cadbury’s for a whole month? Ditch the Dairy Milk and help us save the lives of mothers and their babies.

Ask your friends and family to sponsor your chocolate-free month, or alternatively, donate what you would otherwise have spent on sweets.
Whatever you raise will enable us to empower and support women to give birth safely. It costs, on average, just £15 to provide a safe birth and as little as £1 for a course of antibiotics to prevent infection following childbirth.

Together our small efforts can make life-changing differences!

Download a Choctober fundraising pack here

Tea at The Garden House

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for afternoon tea at The Garden House on Friday 20 September!

The event was kindly organised by the Brighton Fundraising Group in aid of Maternity Worldwide and a fantastic afternoon was had by all, enjoying delicious homemade sandwiches and cakes, a glass of fizz and unlimited refills of tea in the autumn sunshine, in the beautiful setting of the The Garden House is at 5 Warleigh Road, Brighton BN1 4NT . Photos of our event to come so watch this space!

Maternity Worldwide joins the Thriving Together campaign

To mark World Population Day 2019, Maternity Worldwide is pleased to join 150 other leading environmental and reproductive health organisations to pledge support the Thriving Together campaign. Organisations that have signed up to the Thriving Together campaign form a diverse global alliance united by the agreement that improving access to family planning services is critically important for the environment and biodiversity.

Find out more in our blog.

Maternity Worldwide joins the Thriving Together campaign

The Thriving Together campaign recognises that family planning is critically important not only for women and girls but also for the environment.

Maternity Worldwide is pleased to join 150 other leading environmental and reproductive health organisations to pledge support the Thriving Together campaign. Organisations that have signed up to the Thriving Together campaign form a diverse global alliance united by the agreement that improving access to family planning services is critically important for the environment and biodiversity.

The Sustainable Development Goals call for integrated solutions. Maternity Worldwide, along with other organisations backing the Thriving Together campaign agree that whether working in health or environmental conservation, through sharing information and working together on strategic projects and policies, we can help human communities and their ecosystems thrive. Successful biodiversity conservation requires taking people, our health, and our interactions with the natural world into account.

Increasing human pressures are among the many challenges facing planetary health. In addition, by harming ecosystems, people undermine food and water security and human health, and threaten habitats and species. Ensuring family planning is available to all who seek it is among the positive actions organisations must take to lessen these pressures.

The United Nations projects that global population will rise from 7.7 billion today to 9.7 billion by 2050. Future population growth is uncertain however, and highly sensitive to small changes in the average number of children per mother. If the physical, financial, educational, social and religious barriers to people using family planning services were removed and the average number of children per mother was just 0.5 lower than the UN population projection which is most commonly used, global population would peak at 8.9 billion in 2050, rather than 9.7 billion.

This is all possible, by enabling the exercise of a well-recognised human right, that people should be able to decide for themselves, whether, when, how often and with whom to bring children into the world. Family planning contributes to women’s empowerment, improves family and general health, advances education and life opportunities and, by slowing population growth, eases pressures on wildlife and ecosystems.

The Thriving Together campaign is spearheaded by the Margaret Pyke Trust, which has over 50 years’ experience of family planning. David Johnson, Chief Executive at the Margaret Pyke Trust says: “The existence of barriers to family planning is the most important ignored environmental challenge of our day. This changes now. The Thriving Together campaign encourages cross-sectoral support between health and environmental conservation organisations, showcasing that when people can choose freely whether and when to have children it is for the benefit of both people and planet. Barriers to family planning are not only relevant to those who are passionate about improving health, gender equality, empowerment and economic development, but also to those who are passionate about the conservation of biodiversity, the environment and sustainability.”

The Margaret Pyke Trust’s Thriving Together campaign is informed by its paper ‘Removing Barriers to Family Planning, Empowering Sustainable Environmental Conservation’, which sets out how and why family planning is important for the environment. The Thriving Together campaign website www.ThrivingTogether.Global launches today – 11th July 2019.

About Thriving Together:

At the heart of the Thriving Together campaign is the widespread agreement, for the first time, that removal of barriers to family planning are critically important not only for women and girls, but also for environmental conservation and biodiversity. The campaign is the start of the process to change global policy to recognise this. 150 leading environmental and reproductive health organisations working in over 170 countries have declared their support for the campaign, with particular support from African organisations, working in all 54 African nations. The Thriving Together website, statement and paper can be viewed here.

Brighton Marathon 2020: Ten Years’ Running!

Run Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide

When: Sunday 19th April 2020

Where: Brighton

Price: £55

We have a limited number of Brighton Marathon ‘charity partner’ places available for supporters of Maternity Worldwide. Registration is open NOW and costs just £55.

Brighton Marathon is the second largest marathon in the UK. Starting with a loop of gorgeous Preston Park, then taking in the best of the city centre including the Brighton Pavilion and fabulous stretches of coastal road, you’ll be able to take in some spectacular panoramic views where the glorious South Downs meet the English Channel. With its fast, flat course, Brighton Marathon is always a popular event in the running calendar.

Why not run the Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide? We will provide you with one of our sought-after running vests, a fantastic set of enthusiastic cheerers on race day, fundraising pack including social media graphics and badges, and full support from our team. In exchange for an unforgettable day, we ask that you fund-raise at least £400 for us.

What could we achieve with your sponsor money?

  • £15 can provide a safe birth for a mother in Africa.
  • £30 can enable a woman to attend training sessions and receive a small amount of seed funding to begin their own small businesses. By becoming financially independent women are empowered to become the decision makers about their own sexual and reproductive health.
  • £80 can pay for a month’s midwifery training.

The money you raise will go a long way towards helping save the lives of mothers and babies during childbirth.

In a change from previous years, this year all Brighton Marathon participants self-register through Race Roster: simply click here.

No payment is required at this stage. We are notified whenever someone signs up to run for Maternity Worldwide and will then send you an invoice for £55 to complete your registration. You will be given a Race Roster confirmation number on their ‘thank you’ page. Please make a note of it in case of queries.

We don’t manage the Race Roster site so if you have any problems with your registration, please contact [email protected].

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at  [email protected].

Emergency Appeal: Malawi

Severe flooding is jeopardising our lifesaving work in southern Malawi. We are asking for urgent donations to help mitigate the damage, particularly now in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai.

Heavy rains and floods are preventing pregnant women and new mothers from accessing medical knowledge, maternal healthcare facilities and the expertise of trained healthcare providers. Electricity and water supplies are disrupted; the President of Malawi has declared a state of disaster in affected areas [1]. At present, almost 83,000 local people have been displaced, 577 have been injured and 56 have lost their lives in the storms [2]. Many other families have lost their houses, goods, crops and livestock.

 In 2014, Maternity Worldwide’s Muffins for Midwives appeal paid for Robert’s midwifery training and living costs. He now works at the CHC community hospital at Pirimiti, southern Malawi. Earlier this week, he sent us these photographs from his home village. His parents and relatives have lost animals, possessions and in some cases, their homes but as Robert says “That was it but thank God lives have been saved.”

Impassable roads and breakdowns in infrastructure are preventing women from getting to a safe place to give birth, leading to deaths which could otherwise have been avoided. Health facilities now have extra demands on their resources in addition to many healthcare workers – including some of our own staff and midwives – being among those directly affected by the weather conditions.

As well as acute clinical care, Maternity Worldwide has been successfully promoting community maternal health promotion and income generation activities through women’s groups run by trained local volunteers. These activities, which empower and support women’s long-term independence, are also severely challenged by the current situation. You can read more about our work in Malawi here.

Maternity Worldwide is working with local communities in the Zomba district of Malawi to identify and help expectant mothers who are trapped and displaced by the floods. We have a vision where all mothers, wherever they live in the world, can give birth safely and without fear, therefore we are calling on people to donate to our special appeal and help us sustain our projects in Malawi at this difficult time.

We will use the money raised by this appeal to:

  • Ensure people in affected areas continue to seek antenatal and postnatal care, using local facilitators to identify displaced and otherwise vulnerable women and families in need
  • Enable better access to health facilities otherwise impeded by floods, reducing delays for women in reaching a safe place to give birth
  • Support local clinicians delivering care at health facilities, at a time when resources are oversubscribed

Together we can help relieve the long-term effects of this natural disaster but we need your support. Please click here to donate.

Update: 28 March 2019

Photos from Kumpasa village in Pirimiti catchment area, southern Malawi. We have now had information from 72 of the 80 villages in the area and are visiting the last eight today.

Great news is that we’ve received an incredibly generous £4,000 from Festival Medical Services for our emergency appeal to help local communities rebuild.

Brighton Marathon 2020

Run Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide!

When: Sunday 19th April 2020

Where: Brighton East Sussex

Price: £55

We have a limited number of Brighton Marathon ‘charity partner’ places available for supporters of Maternity Worldwide. Registration is open NOW and costs just £55.

Brighton Marathon is the second largest marathon in the UK. Starting with a loop of gorgeous Preston Park, then taking in the best of the city centre including the Brighton Pavilion and fabulous stretches of coastal road, you’ll be able to take in some spectacular panoramic views where the glorious South Downs meet the English Channel. With its fast, flat course, Brighton Marathon is always a popular event in the running calendar.

Why not run the Brighton Marathon for Maternity Worldwide? We will provide you with one of our sought-after running vests, a fantastic set of enthusiastic cheerers on race day, fundraising pack including social media graphics and badges, and full support from our team. In exchange for an unforgettable day, we ask that you fund-raise at least £400 for us.

What could we achieve with your sponsor money?

  • £15 can provide a safe birth for a mother in Africa.
  • £30 can enable a woman to attend training sessions and receive a small amount of seed funding to begin their own small businesses. By becoming financially independent women are empowered to become the decision makers about their own sexual and reproductive health.
  • £80 can pay for a month’s midwifery training.

The money you raise will go a long way towards helping save the lives of mothers and babies during childbirth.

In a change from previous years, this year all Brighton Marathon participants self-register through Race Roster: simply click here.

No payment is required at this stage. We are notified whenever someone signs up to run for Maternity Worldwide and will then send you an invoice for £55 to complete your registration. You will be given a Race Roster confirmation number on their ‘thank you’ page. Please make a note of it in case of queries.

We don’t manage the Race Roster site so if you have any problems with your registration, please contact [email protected].

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at  [email protected].