Here in the United States, we have many options when choosing a birth plan. You can choose to have your baby at a hospital, at a birthing center, or with a midwife at home. There are many options, and a plan can easily be put in place to make it happen.
The story looks a little bit different for mothers in Haiti. While giving birth at home is the less common choice in the U.S., this is the stark reality for the majority of mothers in Haiti. There are no options to layout the perfect birthing plan. A normal and typical birth takes place at home for Haitian mothers.
While at-home births can be performed safely with both mother and baby staying healthy, they can also pose some problems when an emergency strikes. With medical services being less than ideal in Haiti and poor sanitation practices, maternal and infant mortality rates remain high.
LiveBeyond saw this great need for Haitian mothers, and we took immediate action by implementing the maternal health program. Expecting mothers in our area of Thomazeau now have access to maternal health education, prenatal vitamins, nutritious food, and quality healthcare. With these implementations, the maternal mortality rate in our region has decreased by 73% and the infant mortality rate has decreased by 50%.
We are continuing our efforts to add more mothers and babies to our maternal health program so we can continue to decrease these percentages.
If you would like to help LiveBeyond continue these efforts, start giving today at no extra cost to you! You can do this by shopping on AmazonSmile. We all use Amazon regularly, but did you know your regular shopping can have a big impact? All you have to do is switch over to smile.amazon.com for all your typical Amazon orders.
Here is how it works: You shop. Amazon Donates.
Easy, right? So, join us today as we continue to improve the lives of Haitian mothers and babies!
Together, we will change the world one life at a time.
Hear the latest news from Haiti, read posts about faith and community development, and find transcriptions from the LiveBeyond podcast.
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