Women's Hope International

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Women's Hope International (WHI) is a Swiss association founded in 2003 that is committed to improving the health of mothers in Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Ethiopia and Chad . The focus is on the healing of vesicovaginal and rectovaginal fistulas (also called obstetric fistulas ) empowering girls and women to avoid forced marriage and teenage pregnanciesprevention and safe care during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium. Women's Hope International is based in Bern . WHI is a non-profit organization certified by the ZEWO Foundation .

Emergence

Women's Hope International was founded on December 4th, 2003 in Bern as an association by Claudia and Martin Leimgruber-Neukom. The midwife and the doctor were active from 1999 to 2002 in charge in a health district in northern Chad. There they noticed obstetric fistulas as a widespread health problem. In 2002 they organized two fistula surgery camps in cooperation with the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, during which over 90 women could be operated on and cured. When the couple came back to Switzerland, the association was founded in order to collect donations for fistula operations. In the following years, projects were added in Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Ethiopia and Chad , which are implemented with local partners.

Projects and programs

In 2016, WHI operated in four countries:

Afghanistan

WHI has been operating in Afghanistan since 2007. The association works there with two local partner organizations, the CURE International Hospital and Première Urgence International. The focus of WHI in Afghanistan is on fistula surgery, awareness-raising and education of affected women, advanced training of doctors and gynecologists as well as the training of midwives and medical nurses.

Ethiopia

WHI has been active in Ethiopia since 2004. The association works in Ethiopia with five partner organizations in seven different projects. In addition to treating obstetric fistulas (partner organization Women and Health Alliance International WAHA), training midwives (at St Luke Catholic Hospital and Hamlin College of Midwives) and strengthening maternal health services (partner organization CUAMM), WHI supports the waiting room at Attat Catholic Hospital for high-risk pregnancies.

Bangladesh

WHI has been operating in Bangladesh since 2011. The association works in Bangladesh with a partner organization, Lutheran Aid Medicine Bangladesh (LAMB). The focus is on a project on reproductive basic health, in which u. a. fistula patients are also operated on.

Chad

The association has been active in Chad since 2015 and supports the Projet Souffrance initiative there. The focus of the project is the healing of women with obstetric fistula in a government hospital in Abéché in the north-east of the country.

Guiding principles

To implement the projects and programs, WHI is guided by the following principles :

  • Professionally competent, efficient and effective fulfillment of the order
  • Cooperation with civil society and state actors
  • Partnership-based cooperation on the basis of common goals to strengthen partners in the long term and to help them achieve a high level of professional competence
  • Programs are designed to be sustainable and innovative and, if possible, coordinated with the state health system
  • In the long term, a country program approach with thematic and geographical focuses and suitable coordination structures should be implemented in each country of deployment
  • Review of projects for relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.womenshope.ch/de/ueber-uns/impressum
  2. ↑ women's hope international (WHI) . In: Medicus Mundi Switzerland . ( medicusmundi.ch [accessed on October 17, 2016]).
  3. ↑ ZEWO Foundation: Find certified aid organizations | Donate correctly with Zewo. In: www.zewo.ch. Retrieved October 17, 2016 .
  4. Jump up ↑ Women's Hope History. In: www.womenshope.ch. Retrieved October 12, 2016 .
  5. ↑ a b International work. In: womenshope.ch. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016 ; accessed on April 28, 2019 .