In Indonesia, the USAID-funded SMSBunda program provides timely health messages via text for pregnant women to help ensure a safe birth. Read how one Indonesian woman averted complications from hypertension.
Chinyere Francis loved working on her farm in the rural town of Ikwo in southeast Nigeria. But she worried that neither her earnings nor her husband’s $15 monthly income as a pastor in his local church were enough to take care of their growing family. With the latest addition—their tenth child—the couple appeared exhausted at the prospect of yet another mouth to feed.
Dozens of women arrived outside of a tent in Musanze, Rwanda, for the chance to reclaim their lives. Many of the women were suffering with obstetric fistula, a childbirth-related injury that can result in incontinence and stench. Because of this, some had been living in obscurity; some had been shunned by their families and friends; and many of them had been struggling to live quiet lives despite the pain and shame. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 women are affected by obstetric fistula every year.
