Featured Organization Friday: Keep Mothers Alive

A new non-profit based in Prince William County is aimed at saving expectant mothers in Africa.

Dr. Diagaunet Dodie's Keep Mothers Alive pilot project aims to save at least one more expectant mother in Africa.  The program will officially begin in the fall of 2015. 

Dr. Dodie's project will begin in Duekoue, Cote D'Ivoire.  

Per their press release, Duekoue is a small town of about 72,000 people in the Western part of the Ivory Coast in West Africa. In 2011 during the Civil War, the city experienced the largest massacre in the history of the country. Over 1,000 people were killed in a single day and many of the country’s infrastructures were destroyed. Women and children paid the heaviest price in this war. Four years later, the consequences of the civil war still persist. Maternal mortality crisis is now one of the highest in the country. The community has endured hardship, the women have become even more vulnerable and something needs to be done immediately. 

“The economic challenge in some west and east African countries is so severe that pregnant women hardly get the right drugs, infrastructures or medical help needed.  Delivery is like having one leg in the grave. I lost a dear cousin and her twins to preventable maternal death. KeepMothers Alive is to give families the chance to happiness and the joy of having one more life full of potentials added to them.” Stated, Dr. Diagaunet Dodie, the KMA Founder and CEO.

Keep Mothers Alive will kick off their DESPAIR TO HOPE campaign with the primary aim of saving an African mother’s life through a PIIPE approach:

·       Provide medical supplies and equipment.

·       Improve the quality of data.

·       Increase antenatal care, skilled birth attendance and postpartum visits.

·       Provide additional training for health workers.

·       Empower women.

Founded in 2015, Keep Mothers Alive was born from the pain of losing a close cousin to eclampsia and driven by the passion of ending every birthing experience in joy. 

“Keep Mothers Alive is an international partner of public health specialists who is committed to preventing maternal mortality in the most economically challenged areas of Africa by improving women’s accessibility to health care; engaging communities to prevent mother and child mortality; strengthening the health care system to provide quality of care for women; advocating for a call for action on maternal death; partnering with community leaders, government officials, and other NGOs to raise awareness of maternal mortality and its economic and social impact; empowering women about maternal health issues and the risks of home births; applying mobile technology to increase prenatal care utilization and healthy behaviors.” 

To learn more about Keep Mothers Alive, visit www.Keepmothersalive.org