Every Two Minutes, A Woman Dies From Preventable Birth Complications, But We Can Help

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for the Cigna Foundation, in partnership with Samahope. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation. All photos courtesy of Samahope

All three times that I was pregnant, there were lots of things that I complained about.  Yes, I had morning sickness and there were times I could not think of anything to eat. I complained about having to wake up so much during the night (ha!  Little did I know what was about to come!)  I complained that I was uncomfortable in my nice, warm bed.  We tend to complain a great deal, it’s true, pregnant or not.  When I take a moment to peruse the Samahope website and see what the people in other parts of the world are dealing with, my nice warm bed and the food that we DO have sound pretty good.  

And what about medical care?  I remember complaining about little things when I was pregnant, whether it was a nurse brushing off my concerns or an old, outdated sonogram machine that was fuzzy so we weren’t able to make out the sex of Baby #2.  Then there was the gross stuff that I had to drink for my gestational diabetes test that made me feel absolutely gross the rest of the day.  Of course, all of these things are silly and pale in comparison to some of the real issues that pregnant moms around the world really do face.  Imagine waiting for months, worrying if you and your baby will even survive.  Imagine being in labor and not having any access to any kind of health care.  I think we can all agree that prenatal care and trained personnel during labor and delivery can be lifesavers…truly.

Every TWO minutes, a woman dies from preventable causes related to pregnancy and birth.  Something that is a beautiful gift and “routine” in America can be life threatening to those without the proper help and care.  Samahope is here to help those women who are in that exact situation.  It is a fantastic organization that allows anyone, anywhere to directly fund doctors’ life-changing medical treatments for women and children in need.  This year, Samahope is on a mission to protect even more women and children in need.  

The 10,000 Lives Campaign will help 5,000 moms and 5,000 babies – 10,000 lives.  Samahope is dedicated to helping this many people and won’t stop until they reach their goal of funding enough birth kits!  They are currently only half-way there.  At Samahope, $5 helps fund a birth kit that includes the sterile tools to enable a Skilled Birth Attendant to protect a mother and child from life-threatening complications during childbirth.  $5 can save the lives of a mother and a baby!

The Cigna Foundation is supporting Samahope while it focuses on helping people overcome barriers to their health and well-being related to factors such as ethnicity, race, gender, age, geography or economics. This year’s Cigna Foundation World of Difference grant to Samahope is helping to train local nurses and fund doctors in India to provide treatment and surgery for people in need.

If you want to help, $5 can buy one birth kit that will help one mother and baby.  You can donate at the Samahope site.  

Samahope is on a mission to help 5,000 women deliver their babies safely, and we can all help!  With the cost of a coffee or two, we can save two lives.  That is just mindblowing to me and gives me chills.  Can we all pitch in to help women and babies in need?

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