Hi! We are two third year medical students at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. We are intercalating in Primary Care Management at Kent University where we have been linked to the charity Educate for Life. We are travelling to a remote marginalised community in Rajasthan in northern India, to work with the charity’s health and community team.
The team runs a successful Safe Motherhood Programme and we will be working to expand the programme to cover newborn to infant care. The infant mortality rate in the community is very high – over a quarter of all households have experienced the death of a child under five. The Safe Motherhood Programme is impacting maternal health outcomes and we hope our work will lead to improved infant health.

What is the Safe Motherhood Programme?

Educate for Life provides direct, one-on-one, monthly support to pregnant women, providing quality advice and counselling, and helping them access better care from the government. Over 90% of pregnancies in the community are supported by this programme, with women being regularly seen by a community health worker. Before the programme started most women received very little antenatal support, two thirds had no pregnancy vaccinations or supplements and two thirds of women were giving birth with no skilled attendant. Now, 85% of women have pregnancy vaccinations and supplements and two thirds of women are giving birth with a skilled attendant present – and this is saving lives.

Access to professional healthcare

Educate for Life provides a mobile clinic twice a month which has given women their first ever access to a female doctor. About 50 community members benefit from a free consultation with a doctor each time the clinic visits. If they are referred for further investigations or treatment, the Educate for Life health and community team accompanies them to their onward appointments.

What difference will my donation make?

Your donation will help sustain the work of the health and community team and enable it to extend its services into neighbouring communities. Word is spreading about the Safe Motherhood Programme and other women from nearby communities would like to benefit from the support it provides.

£10 - this amount could support a mother on the Safe Motherhood Programme for a month

£90 - this amount could cover the cost of a visit from the mobile health clinic

We are very grateful for whatever donation and please help spread the word about the good work Educate for Life is doing!