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This Mother’s Day, Give the Gift of a Healthy Baby

Nosakimo and her one-week old baby girl Ayabanga are supported by PWRDF partner The Keiskamma Trust in South Africa. Photo: Zaida Bastos

May 4, 2016

By Simon Chambers

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PWRDF works with partners around the world to help mothers to give birth safely, and to ensure that mothers and their children are healthy and have enough food to eat.  This Mother’s Day, you can help PWRDF and its partners to do that work!

Nosakimo Tyam is a young mother living in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa.  Her first son is five years old.  And living with HIV.

Nosakimo is HIV+ and when she was pregnant the first time, she didn’t know how to prevent the transmission of HIV to her baby.  Her son, at age 5, is on an anti-retroviral therapy regime.

Samantha is a community health worker with The Keiskamma Trust, PWRDF’s partner in South Africa.  With funding from the Government of Canada and PWRDF, the Trust supports workers like Samantha in villages throughout the region.  One of Keiskamma Trust’s priorities is making sure that HIV positive mothers have the care they need through their pregnancies and after the birth of their children.

When Samantha heard that Nosakimo was six weeks pregnant with her second child, Samantha visited her to talk about the care she needed through her pregnancy to prevent the transmission of HIV to her child.  Samantha got Nosakimo to the local health clinic for pre-natal care, including taking anti-retroviral medication and eating well.

Samantha visited Nosakimo every week and ensured she received a food parcel every month to keep her healthy, and that she had transportation to the clinic for her appointments.  She ensured that Nosakimo gave birth  assisted by trained medical personnel at a medical facility in order to minimize the risk of transmitting HIV to the baby.

Nosakimo gave birth to a baby girl, Ayabanga.  Samantha ensured that Ayabanga began an anti-retroviral treatment when she was just 72 hours old and will be tested at 6 weeks and 18 months old.  But for now, Nosakimo is happy to have a healthy one-week old baby girl.

To help mothers like Nosakimo to have healthy pregnancies, births, and healthy children, you can support PWRDF’s maternal, newborn and child health programs, including:

Vaccinating mothers and their children ($20)

Outfitting a community health worker like Samantha ($45)

Help build a Mothers-in-Waiting house at clinics so women can rest up before their delivery ($85)

Provide a bicycle ambulance to help get women in labour to the clinic for their birth ($600)

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