IMA working to reduce maternal, child mortality rates

The risk of infant and maternal death in many areas of Sub-Saharan Africa is appalling. In countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), mothers giving birth die at a rate 70 times higher than in the United States, and newborn mortality rates are 11 times higher, according to the World Health Organization.

IMA is working to improve these tragic conditions. Because infection at birth is such a significant cause of maternal and child mortality, IMA is providing Safe Motherhood Kits, which contain clean and sterile birthing supplies to combat infection, a leading cause, along with caps, jackets and blankets, which are essential for keeping low-birth weight babies warm and alive.

Since 2008, IMA has provided hundreds of Safe Motherhood Kits for use in Haiti, the DRC, and Rwanda, and we receive a significant number of requests from other developing nations. With your help we hope to provide at least 50,000 kits over five years to our partners in Africa. It takes only $25 to provide a Safe Motherhood Kit. To help, click "Donate Now" and select "Maternal Child Health."

IMA also is a key faith-based partner in ACCESS, a program to improve maternal, newborn and women's health. IMA helps train health care providers at faith-based facilities and mobilizes religious leaders to support safe motherhood practices within developing African nations. ACCESS is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In 2008, IMA launched the Mother and Child Survival Project in six of the most remote, impoverished and neglected health zones in the DRC. Thanks to support from the Abbott Fund, a nonprofit funded by the pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott, we trained more than 130 doctors and nurses on maternal and child health and vaccinated nearly 25,000 children in the first year of the program. In 2009, Abbott and IMA will establish model clinics in 5 health zones, which will not only provide effective maternal and child health care, but will also be an example for other facilities to follow to provide sustainable, quality services.

Through the USAID-funded AXxes project, in just the last year, we provided more than 170,000 vaccinations, as well as treating more than 107,000 young children for water-borne illnesses and more than 200,000 young children for pneumonia.

IMA's success would not be possible without the support of our many partners and friends. We collaborate with governments, non-governmental organizations, global health agencies and others. In addition to USAID and the Abbott Fund, our partners in improving maternal and child health include the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.