Jan 2023 Newsletter: A Year of New Partnerships and Possibility
In 2023, Babies and Mothers Alive will be scaling our maternal and newborn health programs to the Masaka District, serving 16,000 mothers and babies annually.
2023 marks our 19th year working to build strong, healthy communities in Uganda. Every year brings new possibilities for creative partnerships and expanded impact in our work to improve reproductive, maternal and newborn health for the almost one million people served by the Babies and Mothers Alive Foundation.
What is in store in the coming year?
We launch a new partnership with the Adara Group, an innovative Australian-based non-profit that works in Uganda to improve the quality of intensive care for sick newborns. Adara is committed to expanding their work in maternal health, while BAMA has identified follow-up of at-risk newborns as a critical need for our communities. In 2023, we will begin a learning exchange with BAMA providing training in our Mentor Midwife/Mama Ambassador model, while Adara will support piloting their Hospital to Home Program, allowing BAMA to support newborns discharged from our NICUs.
Continue the expansion of our Mama Ambassador Program, supporting over 800 adolescent mothers and children through peer-support parenting groups. This year we will implement our Year-3 curriculum focusing on stress reduction for our young mothers, while supporting alternatives to corporal punishment. We will also continue to deepen our work to end sexual and gender-based violence, expanding male engagement, and improved support services for survivors.
BAMA's Mama Rescue Project has transported over 24,000 women in labor from village to health center and 2700 patients in need of emergency referral, reducing the time it takes to provide life saving treatment from 3 1/2 hours to just 31 minutes. We have increased the percentage of skilled attendance at delivery from 79% in 2018 to 94.4% in 2022. The Ugandan Ministry of Health has recognized Mama Rescue with an award for the best tech solution for health. This year we are committed to identifying the funding needed to continue this program in the years to come. We have already engaged government seeking greater support, and local Village Savings and Loans Associations, encouraging savings for health as a cost sharing model to build a more sustainable program.
All of our work is a result of your partnership. Together, we can make 2023 a turning point year in promoting health as a human right for all.
