Friend,

For the last story in our Maternal Health Monday series, we meet Fatimah*, a 27-year-old woman living near Sebeya, a town in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Last November, the health center in Sebeya was destroyed by rockets during the region’s ongoing conflict. Now, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs mobile clinics, serving the people who have been left without access to care.

Many of Tigray’s six million people live in mountainous rural areas, but the region had a well-functioning, well-equipped health system. Now, many health centers have been looted or destroyed, and left without staff.

Pregnant women in these rural villages are particularly vulnerable: 50% of maternal deaths occur during delivery or within 24 hours. Without access to a nearby hospital or clinic, many women in Tigray have no choice but to give birth at home without medical assistance, risking their lives and the lives of their children.

Fatimah came to MSF while seven months pregnant with her fifth child, and reflected on her experience at the previous health center while she waited for her prenatal consultation with MSF medics:

“Services here were good,” she said. “I gave birth to all my four children here.”

With the old center’s ambulance now missing, Fatimah and others who need assistance in the area are forced to make difficult choices about where to go in a medical emergency, or to receive routine care.

MSF health workers running mobile clinics like the one where Fatimah went to receive care are working to expand their services, including family planning and care for sexual health. Many people in the area have waited months with little to no care available.

Friend, by making your first gift to MSF, you can help us extend the reach of our work to help the most vulnerable mothers and children, and others around the world.

*Names changed to protect anonymity.