This Organization Is Saving Mothers And Babies In Malawi

CaringCrowd.org, by Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health, is a sponsor of the Your Mark on the World Center and GoodCrowd.info.

Joanne Chiwaula, founder and director of the US-based nonprofit African Mothers Health Initiative and its sister organization Joyful Motherhood based in Malawi, works to save at risk babies. These include multiple births, babies who lost their mothers in childbirth and low birth weight babies.

So many babies born to mothers who die during childbirth die that a local tradition holds that they simply “choose to follow their mothers.” In fact, they fail to receive the vital nutrition that would come from nursing.

Similarly, low birth-weight babies may need more nutrition than they can get from a poorly nourished mother. Twins and triplets are also at risk as under-fed mothers may not be able to produce enough milk to multiple children.

To combat these problems–while always encouraging nursing where possible–African Mothers Health Initiative raises money to buy baby formula that is distributed in Malawi by Joyful Motherhood.

Preliminary Interview with Joanne Chiwaula (Chee-wa-OO-la), the Founder & Director of African Mothers Health Initiative.

The following is a brief pre-interview that provides context for the recorded interview you may watch or listen to at the top of this article.

Crowdfunding page: caringcrowd.org/make-sure-infants-malawi-have-milk-they-need

What is the purpose of your crowdfunding campaign?

For this project we are fundraising specifically to cover the cost of formula for very vulnerable infants. This milk money is the difference between life and death for many of our beneficiaries.

More about African Mothers Health Initiative:

Twitter: @MalawianMothers

Facebook: facebook.com/pg/africanmothers/posts/

Website: www.africanmothers.org

In Malawi, Africa, pregnancy, childbirth, and the first year of life are dangerous periods during which many lives are lost. African Mothers Health Initiative (AMHI) supports the provision of home based care for critically ill postpartum women and vulnerable newborns in Lilongwe District, Malawi. AMHI works in coordination with a local sister NGO called Joyful Motherhood to create a net beneath the gaps in the health care system for this population.

AMHI supports two programs: Baby Care and Mother Care. For each, nurses identify and enroll vulnerable individuals at the hospital, or in communities during outreach, or by referral. Nurses visit babies monthly until their first birthday and then every two months until age two. Women receive up to six postpartum visits. During the visits, nurses assess the health, home, and community of the client. They provide health education to family and community members. They work to mobilize the community in support of the vulnerable individual. And, they provide nutritional support. (Nutritional support consists of formula for orphans and multiples, and protein-rich porridge for all babies over 6 months and convalescing women.) If a client needs to be re-hospitalized our nurses serve as patient advocates within the system. At the time of discharge, women in the Mother Care program are provided with a small monetary assistance to fund an income generating project.

Over the past decade we at AMHI have witnessed incredible transformations – women recovering their health, fragile babies celebrating birthdays – made possible by profound self sacrifice from caring families and empathetic support from us. We are regularly inspired by those we serve and grateful to be a part of their stories.

For-profit or Nonprofit: 501(c)3 Nonprofit

Joyful Motherhood: joyfulmotherhood.org

Joanne Chiwaula

Photo credit: CaringCrowd

Joanne Chiwaula (Chee-wa-OO-la)’s bio:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/joanne-chiwaula-59616491/

Instagram: @amhimalawi

Joanne Jorissen Chiwaula obtained her B.A. from Brown University in International Development Studies and then obtained her MSc in Nursing from the University of California at San Francisco, where she studied to become a Certified-Nurse Midwife and Women’s Nurse Practitioner. From 2005 to 2008 she lived in Malawi and worked in the public maternity hospital (known then as Bottom) in the capital city.

In 2008, after her eyes were opened to the near 100% mortality rate of healthy babies whose mothers die shortly after delivery, she founded African Mothers Health Initiative (a US 501c3) and a Malawian sister nonprofit called Joyful Motherhood (Chimwemew mu’bereki). From Malawi she moved to Kumasi, Ghana and worked at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology as a lecturer in the Department of Nursing. She is currently based in Austin, Texas where she works at a community clinic and local hospital, providing full scope midwifery care to underserved women.

Awed by birth, inspired by women’s strength, and deeply disturbed by both the prolific grief and resounding silence regarding maternal morbidity and infant mortality, Joanne is driven by a desire to serve women who often find quality care in scarce supply. She is committed to efforts making birth and childhood safe and joyous experiences for poor women and their families.

Preliminary Interview with John Brennick, the Co-Founder, CaringCrowd of Johnson & Johnson.

The following is a brief pre-interview that provides context for the recorded interview you may watch or listen to at the top of this article.

Crowdfunding page: caringcrowd.org

What is the purpose of your crowdfunding campaign?

CaringCrowd’s mission is to help fund projects that improve health and save lives.

More about Johnson & Johnson:

Twitter: @CaringCrowd

Facebook: facebook.com/CaringCrowdPublicHealth

Website: caringcrowd.org

CaringCrowd(R) is a crowdfunding site 100% dedicated to global public health. Individuals who want to support public health can browse projects that need funding and make a pledge to help. Any 501(c)(3) non-profit can submit a project and funding goal for consideration on the platform. Then, submitted projects are reviewed by a team of advisors to ensure they fall within our definition of public health. This platform was created by Johnson & Johnson as a driver for collaboration on global public health, and as a new way to bring funding to organizations tackling key public health challenges on the ground.

For-profit or Nonprofit: For-profit

Johnson & Johnson: https://www.jnj.com/caring-and-giving

John Brennick

Photo credit: CaringCrowd

John Brennick’s bio:

Twitter: @JohnBrennick

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/john-brennick-208712/

Instagram: @caringcrowd001

John is a native of Boston and Germany and studied finance at Wharton and strategy at Yale. John brings to bear more than 25 years of entrepreneurial, non-profit and global healthcare industry experience. John is passionate about innovation and access to healthcare for everyone in the world.

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