Holiday greeting from CEO Anna Frellsen

Dear friends and partners,

Looking back at 2022, there are lots for us to celebrate and plenty to be grateful for.

Together with our strong partners and supporters, we have been able to achieve important goals, and our collective efforts have had a vast impact.

In the video below, you can watch a quick one-minute recap of the highlights from 2022. Turn up your sound, and use the pause button if you want to read the texts too.

Stepping up for women’s health

Throughout the year, we launched new digital health services and engaged in more regions and countries around the world.

This includes the launch of the Arabic, Afghan and Ukrainian versions of the Safe Delivery App; our digital job-aid and education tool that empowers midwives to ensure safer births for women and their newborns.

So far, our Safe Delivery App and Programme have reached more than 350,000 healthcare workers in more than 40 countries, and our services are now available more than 30 languages.

We must do more

We have been able to achieve so much together this year, but is not enough.

Right now, the world is confronted by an astonishing number of crises, conflicts, and wars. We have seen maternal mortality rates grow  and we expect spikes in unintended pregnancies and consequently also in unsafe abortions. The burden of these devastating challenges is most often unevenly distributed in the poorer and more fragile communities, countries and regions around the world.

There is no simple solution to these challenges, but we know that access to basic healthcare from skilled service providers is key.

At Maternity Foundation, we are committed to supporting and training midwives and other healthcare workers in ensuring safer childbirths in both humanitarian and developmental contexts.

We are developing new services in modern contraception, safe abortion care, and perinatal mental health. In addition, we are engaging in major fora around the world, advocating for the prioritisation women’s health and seek to form new partnerships.

By the end of 2025, we aim to reach 600,000 healthcare workers and thereby helping to make 15 million childbirths safer over the next three years.

Investing in women’s health is not only the right to do, it is also the smart thing. As well as benefitting the women, families and local communities, achieving the best health for women will reward the entire international community. Women’s health is a fundamental pillar in any health society.

Thanks to everyone for joining our mission to ensure safer births

Thank you to all our partners, donors, collaborators, and friends, who have worked and supported us in the past year. We could not have made it this far without you, and we look forward to continuing our collaborations!

Secondly, thank you to the strong team at Maternity Foundation for all the great work that each of you do, and for a great team effort across our three hubs in Ethiopia, India, and Denmark.

Last but not least, a special thanks to all the midwives and skilled birth attendants out there saving lives every day.