Bringing evidence-based midwifery care to mothers and babies at the bottom of the pyramid

Mar 12 2013

Healthy Mother Wellness & Care (Healthy Mother), the pioneer in introducing evidence-based scientific midwifery care in India, announced today the formation of The Healthy Mother Foundation, a non-profit trust with the mission to address the lack of affordable, accessible, and high quality maternal and newborn care in urban slums in India.

Healthy Mother Co-founder and Director, Krishnan Sakotai said, "The healthcare system in India, especially in maternal and newborn care, has the highest disparities among different sections of the population. We are seeing that as the country races ahead along the path of economic growth, metros and Tier 1 cities are facing tremendous challenges from urban migration, lack of affordable housing and most importantly, absence of accessible, affordable and high quality healthcare at the bottom of the pyramid. Expecting and new mothers in urban slums have to deal with a medical system which is highly opaque, impersonal, questionable in quality and unaffordable. As a result, many mothers choose not to go in for regular prenatal checkups until the last moment, or when an emergency strikes. In addition, the 75% cesarean rates, most of them unnecessary, place tremendous burden on mothers from a health and financial perspective. Despite crores of rupees being allocated towards this area at the policy making level of the central and state governments, there is very little to show at the ground level."

Krishnan Sakotai added, "Healthy Mother has been at the forefront of implementing high quality Midwifery Model of Care customized to suit Indian sensitivities and customs. We believe Midwifery Care is the answer to affordable, quality care for expecting and new mothers and babies. The World Health Organization has recommended Midwifery Care as the most optimal care model in maternal and newborn health for 90% of the world's low risk mothers. Through a combination of education, advocacy and on-the-ground practice we aim to provide expecting mothers in urban slums high quality, affordable prenatal care based on the midwifery model. It has been proven that good prenatal care in majority of cases is highly correlated to good birth outcomes. Our goal is to train women from each slum to provide basic prenatal care to mothers in their communities and be the first touchpoint for expecting mothers. The Healthy Mother Foundation will also educate and support new mothers on correct breastfeeding techniques, breastfeeding diet, postpartum care, and newborn care. In addition, we will provide evidence-based actionable information on good sexual health practices for adolescent girls and general women's health."

The Healthy Mother Foundation will partner with other like-minded organizations, for and non-profit, in spreading the message of good birth practices among women and their families at the bottom of the pyramid. Our programs will be highly outcome-oriented, quantifiable in their effectiveness and designed towards maximum scalability. We also welcome meaningful participation from motivated individuals who want to volunteer their time and efforts towards this goal.