Ugandan Mobile Midwifery Clinic
Donation protected
A Global Initiative To Humanize Birth Through Collaborative and Equitable International Midwifery Partnerships and Trainings.
Your support is deeply appreciated,
Florence Ochitti
Founder and Ugandan Director, Village Birth International - Gulu
Aimee Brill
Founder,Village Birth International
Our Global Village of Supporters:
Amy Wright Glenn
Asteir Bey
Kathi Vaelli of Birth Anarchy
Birth Focus
Cristen Pascucci of Birth Monopoly
Meghan Tobin of Breathing Space Studio
The BOLD Method
Chanel L. Porchia-Albert of Ancient Song Doula Services
Claudia Booker, CPM, Birthing Hands in DC
Dana Edell
Deborah Flowers- The Farm
Doulas of CNY
Doula Trainings International
Elan Vital McAllister
Elizabeth Bachner of Gracefull Birthing
Gena Kirby of The Progressive Parenting Network
Gina Giordano of Bella-Belly
Hermine Hayes-Klein of Human Rights in Childbirth
Improving Birth
Kate Dimpfl of Holistic Childbirth
Kissed By Nature Doula
Liz Richards of Blossom Clinic
Memaniye Cinque of Dyekora Sumda Midwifery Services
Nekole Shapiro of Holistic Peer Counseling
Danielle Synborski of Radiant Birth
Robin Lim- Bumi Sehat
Sarah Oakley of MamaBirthYOGA
Tara Brooke of Power of Birth
Taylor Davis Doula Services
Toni Harman of One World Birth
*Village Birth International is a registered NGO
Village Birth International (VBI) is a network of midwives, doulas, traditional birth attendants, and birth activists, engaging in a collaborative exchange of resources, and dedicated to increased access to safe and humane birth. Village Birth International - Gulu is an NGO co-led by Ugandan and US-based midwives and doulas, and Ugandan traditional birth attendants (TBAs) who are committed to providing sustainable midwifery care and educational trainings within their own communities.
Since 2006, Aimee Brill, New York-based founder of VBI and Florence Ochitti, Uganda-based co-founder and director of VBI-Gulu, have been offering free trainings in Gulu to help midwives and TBAs better serve the women of the city and the surrounding villages. But with many women without transportation, living in villages far from the regional hospitals, they recognized that the Gulu trainings were not enough. Further, the midwives and TBAs recognized the need for greater partnership and mutual support.
The idea for the VBI Mobile Midwifery Clinic was born.
The Mission of our Mobile Midwifery Clinic is to increase access to midwifery care and reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in northern Uganda.
Current Project Update: We are currently in partnership with the Ministries of Health in Nwoya and Gulu district in northern Uganda. Our team of midwives serve on average 30-50 women and babies per week, traveling to remote villages where there is no access to antenatal or postpartum midwifery care. This year we recieved a generous donation which will enable us to buy a vehicle. This is huge! Our midwives have currently been traveling on boddhas (motorbikes) which can be very dangerous, especially during the rainy season.
How will your funds be used? Your contribution will directly support VBI's Mobile Midwifery Clinic, which will foster ongoing antenatal and postpartum care for women in northern Uganda, specifically in the surrounding rural areas of Gulu. The Mobile Midwifery Clinic will provide women with a full range of services, including: a 24/7 staff of Ugandan midwives (nurse-midwives and TBAs); maternal and infant life-saving skills trainings; cross-cultural midwifery trainings; childbirth education classes; family planning; counseling services; HIV prevention workshops; gynecological care; labor support; antenatal and postpartum follow-up care; newborn care; and breastfeeding support. Our goal is to reduce maternal and child mortality rates, and to support midwives in fostering the best care that they can provide.
VBI's Supply Wish List:
In addition to the financial support we seek, we are also collecting birth, medical, and other material supplies. Please click here for our complete wish list and details on where to send supplies
Why is this important?
Increasing access to midwifery care saves lives. Globally, over 287,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth related causes each year -- or about 800 women a day. Nearly 90% of these deaths are preventable.
Our model: Equitable, global maternal health partnerships with an emphasis on sustainable, community-based models. VBI has devoted years to examining maternal health models that work and carry a wide-reaching impact on communites. With an understanding of how neo-colonial models often cloak good intentions in international work, VBI is dedicated to creating change through respectful and collarborative partnerships that honor the shared wisdom of communities. The midwives and doulas of VBI trust the sisterhood we've developed over the past 8 years. We have learned that we can share, learn from one another, and through community-based midwifery care and access to information, tackle the large-scale challenges that women and families face. Large-scale challenges require small-scale attention, and we're deeply commited to that.
Humane birth starts with a recognition of our shared humanity. Transformative social movements don’t happen when we operate as individuals in our separate silos. They are born in community and within an awareness that we are all connected, working toward the same vision: a world where every mother, partner, and baby is deeply respected and honored.Since 2006, Aimee Brill, New York-based founder of VBI and Florence Ochitti, Uganda-based co-founder and director of VBI-Gulu, have been offering free trainings in Gulu to help midwives and TBAs better serve the women of the city and the surrounding villages. But with many women without transportation, living in villages far from the regional hospitals, they recognized that the Gulu trainings were not enough. Further, the midwives and TBAs recognized the need for greater partnership and mutual support.
The idea for the VBI Mobile Midwifery Clinic was born.
The Mission of our Mobile Midwifery Clinic is to increase access to midwifery care and reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in northern Uganda.
Current Project Update: We are currently in partnership with the Ministries of Health in Nwoya and Gulu district in northern Uganda. Our team of midwives serve on average 30-50 women and babies per week, traveling to remote villages where there is no access to antenatal or postpartum midwifery care. This year we recieved a generous donation which will enable us to buy a vehicle. This is huge! Our midwives have currently been traveling on boddhas (motorbikes) which can be very dangerous, especially during the rainy season.
How will your funds be used? Your contribution will directly support VBI's Mobile Midwifery Clinic, which will foster ongoing antenatal and postpartum care for women in northern Uganda, specifically in the surrounding rural areas of Gulu. The Mobile Midwifery Clinic will provide women with a full range of services, including: a 24/7 staff of Ugandan midwives (nurse-midwives and TBAs); maternal and infant life-saving skills trainings; cross-cultural midwifery trainings; childbirth education classes; family planning; counseling services; HIV prevention workshops; gynecological care; labor support; antenatal and postpartum follow-up care; newborn care; and breastfeeding support. Our goal is to reduce maternal and child mortality rates, and to support midwives in fostering the best care that they can provide.
VBI's Supply Wish List:
In addition to the financial support we seek, we are also collecting birth, medical, and other material supplies. Please click here for our complete wish list and details on where to send supplies
Why is this important?
Increasing access to midwifery care saves lives. Globally, over 287,000 women die from pregnancy and childbirth related causes each year -- or about 800 women a day. Nearly 90% of these deaths are preventable.
Our model: Equitable, global maternal health partnerships with an emphasis on sustainable, community-based models. VBI has devoted years to examining maternal health models that work and carry a wide-reaching impact on communites. With an understanding of how neo-colonial models often cloak good intentions in international work, VBI is dedicated to creating change through respectful and collarborative partnerships that honor the shared wisdom of communities. The midwives and doulas of VBI trust the sisterhood we've developed over the past 8 years. We have learned that we can share, learn from one another, and through community-based midwifery care and access to information, tackle the large-scale challenges that women and families face. Large-scale challenges require small-scale attention, and we're deeply commited to that.
Your support is deeply appreciated,
Florence Ochitti
Founder and Ugandan Director, Village Birth International - Gulu
Aimee Brill
Founder,Village Birth International
Our Global Village of Supporters:
Amy Wright Glenn
Asteir Bey
Kathi Vaelli of Birth Anarchy
Birth Focus
Cristen Pascucci of Birth Monopoly
Meghan Tobin of Breathing Space Studio
The BOLD Method
Chanel L. Porchia-Albert of Ancient Song Doula Services
Claudia Booker, CPM, Birthing Hands in DC
Dana Edell
Deborah Flowers- The Farm
Doulas of CNY
Doula Trainings International
Elan Vital McAllister
Elizabeth Bachner of Gracefull Birthing
Gena Kirby of The Progressive Parenting Network
Gina Giordano of Bella-Belly
Hermine Hayes-Klein of Human Rights in Childbirth
Improving Birth
Kate Dimpfl of Holistic Childbirth
Kissed By Nature Doula
Liz Richards of Blossom Clinic
Memaniye Cinque of Dyekora Sumda Midwifery Services
Nekole Shapiro of Holistic Peer Counseling
Danielle Synborski of Radiant Birth
Robin Lim- Bumi Sehat
Sarah Oakley of MamaBirthYOGA
Tara Brooke of Power of Birth
Taylor Davis Doula Services
Toni Harman of One World Birth
*Village Birth International is a registered NGO
Organizer
Aimee Brill
Organizer
Syracuse, NY