Maternity Worldwide – in short
Maternity Worldwide (MWW) is a charitable organization founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2005 by 6 women on voluntary basis. Working closely together with its sister organization, Maternity Worldwide UK, MWW provides life-saving health care, education and economic aid to women and children in Ethiopia in connection with pregnancy and labour.
The maternal mortality rate in Ethiopia is one of the highest in the world.
The mission of MWW is to provide health care, a measure of financial security and protection for women and children in connection with pregnancy and birth in the developing world.
The MWW mission covers three out of the eight goals set by the United Nations for 2015 for reducing poverty (The Millennium Development Goals).
With the exception of one administrative employee MWW is run voluntarily.
The salary of the administrative director is paid separately with a grant from a Danish fund. All other work in MWW is done on a voluntary basis and all donations go to fund the work in Ethiopia.
In 2007, Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, became protector of Maternity Worldwide.
The work of Maternity Worldwide
The home base of the MWW project in Ethiopia is the local hospital in a town called Gimbie, where medical care is provided to pregnant women and those in labour.
MWW has started a voucher program, administered via village-based women’s groups supported by the organization (see below for more details on these groups). The vouchers give women access to high-quality medical care in the Gimbie hospital at a heavily reduced rate.
The voucher program has saved the lives of more than 3000 women who otherwise could have died from complicated pregnancies and labour. The program has ensured that more babies are born in a safe and sanitary hospital environment.
MWW has conducted a post-op study of fistula cases in Ethiopia that has published in a medical journal.
MWW runs women’s groups in 40 villages that provide the basis to deliver health and economic knowledge to the local population. Education in prevention, sexual and basic health and how to recognize possible signs of distress in pregnant women is provided. Via the women’s groups MWW aims to provide communities with skills and knowledge to better take care of and protect themselves, and their women and children.
The women’s groups are also the framework for distributing microloans to women that give them the possibility to better provide for their family. A microloan strengthens the position of a woman in her community; she has the possibility to buy animals, seeds and other goods that she can sell further. The loan is paid back over a year and then granted to another woman.
MWW now plans to establish women’s groups in 60 new villages in Ethiopia. Therefore, we need your support!
You can donate to MWW via our website, www.mww.dk. International credit cards are accepted, or you can transfer your donation to Nordea Bank:
Reg. Nr.: 2135
Account Nr.: 8479 440 213 (IBAN DK6820008479440213).
In 2010, the internationally renowned artist Olafur Eliasson created the work “Many fireflies small”, a screensaver that you can download to your computer when you donate to MWW. Every time someone donates to MWW, another firefly appears in the screensaver.
