This Mother’s Day we at Bread and Water for Africa® remain committed to doing all we can to ensure that thousands of expecting women in sub-Saharan African countries, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone, have the opportunity to have the best possible outcomes for their newborn babies and themselves.
This year, Bread and Water for Africa® is hoping to ship thousands of bottles of multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) for expecting women to Ethiopia where the maternal mortality rate in 2020 was 267 deaths per 100,000 live births, ranking it 32nd highest in the world out of 186 countries, according to the CIA World Factbook. (This compares with 21 in the United States.)
Our partner in Ethiopia, Debre Tabor University (DTU), works with rural and urban health centers in the South Gondor administrative zone by providing medical supplies and trained healthcare workers from the university to support communities’ health posts.
“Our plan is to reduce maternal and infant mortality in South Gondor,” stated Dr. Fasil Negussie of DTU. “Maternal and infant mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, are among the highest in the world.
“We would like to reduce high maternal and child mortality rates by providing prenatal supplies to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers,” said Dr. Negussie, who explained that “due to limited access to nutrient-rich foods, many women in Ethiopia suffer from deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, folic acid and calcium.”
“Prenatal supplements help address these deficiencies, reducing the risk of complications like anemia, neural tube defects, and preeclampsia.
“By addressing micronutrient deficiencies, reducing the risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth, and supporting long-term health, these supplements are essential to public health strategies to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in the region.”
MMS are formulated for pregnant women to provide 15 essential vitamins and minerals that are scientifically proven to benefit the overall health of both the mother and the infant.
“Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation is a low-cost and high-impact intervention that helps to reduce maternal anemia and improve birth outcomes,” states UNICEF (originally the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund), which recommends that mothers take these supplements throughout pregnancy to ensure that infants get adequate levels of vitamins and minerals from their mothers.
But for Bread and Water for Africa®, thousands of women in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and elsewhere in sub-Saharan African countries over the years, thousands of women would have had to go without these potentially life-saving nutritional supplements, leading to tragic outcomes for both mother and child.
In Sierra Leone, our partner there, Rural Youth Development Organization-SL (RYDO-SL) received a large shipment of MMS last year, which its program director Joseph Kobba reported recently that “this joint effort has been proven to improve maternal nutrition and healthcare status, reducing the risk of adverse birth outcomes in rural Sierra Leone.
“Sierra Leone’s maternal mortality is among the highest in the world, a situation that urgently requires our collective action.”
Maternal deaths, including obstetric hemorrhage, hypertension, and obstructed labor, among other factors, account for 36 percent of all deaths among women ages 15 to 49, according to a June 2024 UNICEF (originally the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) report.
Joseph also points out that the benefits of MMS which he has witnessed firsthand, significantly reduce the risk of adverse birth outcomes such as preterm birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and small for gestational age.
“This positive impact gives us hope for a healthier future for these communities.”
And among those young mothers in Sierra Leone who have such hope on this Mother’s Day is 23-year-old Rose Matta, a resident of the small village of Yoni, five miles from the Mokoba Health Center, supported by Bread and Water for Africa®, RYDO-SL and CMMB.
“She was full of joy,” reported Joseph after Rose, who gave birth to a baby girl in her ninth month of pregnancy at the Mokoba Health Center, returned there one month later to express her gratitude to the center’s staff, including Nurse Fati Jabbie, for the MMS and their dedicated and loving care.
“She explained to the nurses that the MMS which was supplied to her during her first visit to the clinic helped her positively during her pregnancy,” Joseph reported.
But it wasn’t only the MMS she received which Rose credits to helping to ensure her healthy pregnancy and birth.
“During the second month of her pregnancy, she lacked an appetite and was diagnosed with malaria and anemia,” he told us. It was then that “she was given free malaria treatment and issued MMS.
“Rose was proud to be back at the Mokoba Health Center after giving birth to thank and express her appreciation to the nurses, RYDO-SL, and Bread and Water for Africa® along with their partner, CMMB, for providing the MMS.”
And as for Rose herself: “I thank God almighty and the medicines’ donors.”
