“If you want to know what women from all backgrounds and lifestyles are doing, thinking, feeling, saying, reading, watching and buying, The Women’s Conference is the place to find out.”
— Maria Shriver
First Lady of California
The Vision
The mission of WE Care is to encourage the women of California to join the movement to empower women in the developing world to overcome the negative health effects of extreme poverty.
In partnership with CARE, the international humanitarian organization, WE Care will raise funds and awareness for two lifesaving maternal health projects in Zambia and Nicaragua where women’s health is seriously threatened by poverty, disease and insufficient services.
The funds raised by WE Care will train midwives in Nicaragua to assist with safe births and fight maternal-to-child-transmission of HIV in Zambia.
Meredith Corporation is one of the organizations that has partnered with The Women’s Conference on this effort.
WE Care in Nicaragua: Training Midwives to Save Lives
Nicaragua has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the Western Hemisphere.
Impoverished conditions persist, especially in rural areas where 70% of the population lives in poverty, as the country continues recovering from the blows of the last 25 years – from civil war and Hurricane Mitch to drought and low worldwide coffee prices.
The nation has made significant strides in poverty reduction since the early 1990s, yet continued economic hardship has meant that health care for women and children has suffered a lack of attention and investment.
WE Care in Nicaragua: Training Midwives to Save Lives
WE Care will address the interrelated problems of maternal and infant mortality in the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua, which has an even higher rate of maternal death than the rest of the country. Through the project, CARE will:
- Train 100 midwives and 400 health leaders in safe delivery practices.
- Train and equip 400 community leaders to organize an emergency transportation network that can carry women suffering from obstetric emergencies to health centers.
- Educate and train health center personnel on the importance of having midwives present during deliveries in rural areas.
- Encourage mothers to give birth at health centers with trained personnel as well as midwives.
- Ultimately benefit nearly 9,000 women of childbearing age.
WE Care in Zambia: Fostering Safe Births and Healthy Babies
WE Care will train community health workers and volunteers in the Eastern Province to provide
much needed maternal health care and disease prevention services both before and after childbirth. Through the project, CARE will:
- Train 315 people to identify, counsel, and refer HIV+ pregnant women to services that help prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.
- Provide refresher training for 470 additional community health volunteers.
- Encourage mothers-to-be to take advantage of local health volunteers.
- Increase the number of locations providing prenatal HIV prevention services so that more women can receive counseling and treatment.
- Increase the number of pregnant women who receive antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.
- Increase the number of HIV-infected pregnant mothers who deliver at locations with appropriate
- HIV prevention services, for example, those who can provide ARVs for the child at birth.
WE Care in Zambia: Fostering Safe Births and Healthy Babies
WE Care will train community health workers and volunteers in the Eastern Province to provide
much needed maternal health care and disease prevention services both before and after childbirth. Through the project, CARE will:
- Train 315 people to identify, counsel, and refer HIV+ pregnant women to services that help prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission.
- Provide refresher training for 470 additional community health volunteers.
- Encourage mothers-to-be to take advantage of local health volunteers.
- Increase the number of locations providing prenatal HIV prevention services so that more women can receive counseling and treatment.
- Increase the number of pregnant women who receive antiretroviral (ARV) drugs.
- Increase the number of HIV-infected pregnant mothers who deliver at locations with appropriate
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