The Foundation’s focus for 2025 was in providing support for women who were struggling to look after themselves and their babies during pregnancy.
The Foundation, in conjunction with nursing staff of state-owned Primary Health Centres (PHC), identified women requiring support during registration.
The women, after being referred from the PHC, were individually assessed by the Foundation’s team for the level of support required to achieve a successful outcome of their pregnancy.
The women received free medical care from registration, through pregnancy, delivery and postnatal periods. In addition, most of them received feeding support and stipends during this period.
The Foundation’s support team were in regular contact with the women to ensure that they were in good condition of health. However, there has been challenges when women do not have personal mobile phones for direct contact.
A pre packed delivery bag was sent to the health centre at least ten days before the expected date of delivery which really puts the women’s mind at ease.
The Foundation was involved in the maternity care of fourteen women and eight of them, including a set of twins, delivered with full support. Few of the women required additional support during and after delivery.
They all reported that they felt well supported and were grateful for the regular contact from the support team.
Despite all the activities above, we face the challenge of reaching women that are not even able to make it to the primary health centres in the first instance due to cost of transportation, registration and clinical tests fees. Subsequently, a lot of women in this situation resort to local unqualified personnel, churches and traditional medicine men or women. For 2026, The Foundation is exploring logistics of reaching morewomen in dire need for support antenatally and beyond.