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Ensuring women are not just surviving but thriving through their childbirth journey in Uganda

Season 5, Ep. 1

Twenty years ago Rachel Zaslow practiced midwifery during the Civil War in Uganda. She witnessed the explicit need for more midwives, more resources and better training. On the other hand, traditional midwives and their practices were not being adequately used despite their personal connections to local women. Inspired by her mantra ‘if I wouldn't feel comfortable giving birth with this level of care than I shouldn't expect anyone else to’ she set forth in her mission to improve midwifery in Uganda - in partnership with and primarily learning from the women and traditional midwives around her. 

 

Since then, Rachel founded and is now the Executive Director of Mother Health International (MHI), an organization aimed at building and sustaining birth centers and training midwives in areas with the highest burden of perinatal mortality. Her area of expertise is in developing midwifery models of care that blend clinical excellence with culturally specific practice for improving health outcomes in the majority world. This model has proven so successful it is now being taught in Universities in conjunction with Yale School of Midwifery and Makerere University.

 

Join our host Anubha Rawat as she learns about Rachel’s extraordinary journey: including the need for woman-centered care, passion for maternal health and how she balances this work with being a mother to her own ‘global citizen’ daughter Amaya.

 

To learn more about Mother Health International (MHI) follow the link: https://motherhealth.org

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10/25/2022

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Season 5, Ep. 4
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Season 5, Ep. 2
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