Maternal and Child Health

The day your child is born should be one of the happiest of your life. But for many mothers this just isn’t the case. Millions of women give birth every year without professional health support. So sadly, in developing countries the day a mother gives birth is too often the day she dies.

80% of all maternal deaths are caused by complications that can be treated with simple, inexpensive methods by trained health workers. For the thousands of babies who grow up without their mothers’ love and care that could mean the difference between their own life and death.

The solutions are simple and low-cost. The cost of training, equipping and supporting a community health worker in Africa is just over £3,000 a year. These health workers can then go on to save mother after mother with simple, effective care. They can help treat and recognise things like diarrhoea in children, which, sadly, still kill many under five-year olds.

5.9 million children die every year before their fifth birthday, many because they can’t get the basic healthcare they need. For children the biggest killers are basic things we know how to treat and prevent like diarrhoea and pneumonia. Children need their mothers – this much is obvious. What isn’t so obvious is that it’s the simple solutions, such as training local health workers, that make can make a big difference.

The Robin Hood Tax could raise billions every year to make sure mothers and children get the basic healthcare they need.