Feel Good Friday - Every Mother Counts

Today is the start of Women’s History Month and we’re kicking it off by highlighting Every Mother Counts.

Founded in 2010 by Christy Turlington Burns, the mission of Every Mother Counts (EMC) is “making pregnancy and childbirth safe for everyone, everywhere.”

The statistics on the website are alarming. Every year, approximately 287,000 women around the world, or one woman every two minutes, dies from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of maternal deaths take place in the developing world and the majority of them can be prevented by ensuring that women have access to quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care. That’s where EMC comes in.

Every Mother Counts partners with local, community-based organizations around the globe to identify and develop effective, appropriate solutions to improve maternal health. They provide grants to support programs that strengthen healthcare workforces, facilitate access to resources, advance proven models of care, place mothers at the center, and promote human rights, equity and birth justice. Currently, work is being done in Guatemala, Haiti, Tanzania, Bangladesh and the United States.

In addition to providing grant funding, EMC advocates for policy and systems change on local, national and international levels to advance improvements in maternal health. They have also created over 40 documentary films to raise awareness of the issues faced by both pregnant woman and healthcare providers. Last, the website has resources for people who want to learn more about the issues and a guide designed to educate people about their pregnancy and birth options called Choices in Childbirth.

Since they began, EMC has provided over $24 million in funding to more than 40 programs in 16 countries. In turn, these programs to advance maternal health have impacted over one million people!

If you want to help Every Mother Counts improve maternal health outcomes around the world, there are many ways you can do so. Download the advocacy toolkit, shop for gifts that give back or make a donation. As always, help spread the word on social media. View and share their films on Vimeo and follow Every Mother Counts on Facebook and on Instagram @everymomcounts.