Friend,

Yerika Hernández, the 20-year-old woman pictured above in her home in the Dominican Republic, recently faced a massive change and challenge in her life.

Yerika became pregnant with her first child — a boy.

Even though most births take place in hospitals in the Dominican Republic where she lives, it still has one of the highest neonatal mortality rates in Latin America: 23 out of every 1,000 babies won’t survive their first month of life. So many of these deaths could be prevented by improving the quality and availability of maternal health care. That’s what Project HOPE is working to do.

For Yerika, she was able to rely on the support and care of community health workers trained by Project HOPE. Once a month, she received a home visit from a local doctor and Jennifer, a local health worker who Yerika has known since they were small girls.

“It’s my first pregnancy, and Jennifer and Johanny [her doctor] have taught me everything I know about taking care of myself and preparing myself to be a good mother,” Yerika says.

Yerika also visited Los Pinitos health clinic where Jennifer and other health workers receive their training and other support from Project HOPE. “If they were not here — if Los Pinitos was not here — I probably would not have received prenatal care,” Yerika told us.

Because of our community's generous support, our team can work closely with health workers like Jennifer, providing training and education so new and expecting mothers can receive the highest caliber of maternal care.

Thank you from the entire Project HOPE team around the world!


P.S.  If you’d like to help more moms, babies and communities survive pregnancy and health crises, please make a gift today.