Atsede Clinic’s ‘Midwives on the Move’ project provides home visits to pregnant women living in the mountainous terrain of the Gurage Zone. Many of the women they work with either aren’t able to travel to health facilities for antenatal appointments, or do not think they are important enough. Alongside the antenatal, delivery and postnatal care they provide, they are working to change attitudes in communities, emphasising the importance of maternal health care and empowering women to make informed decisions about their own health. Atsede’s Maternity Clinic was founded by 2019 International Midwife of the Year, Atsede Kidane, and British midwife Indie McDowell.

The Hamlin Fistula Midwifery College aims to address the shortage of midwives across Ethiopia, and to accomplish their founder Dr Catherine Hamlin’s dream of “a midwife in every village”. The college offers a BSc degree in midwifery and MSc degree in clinical midwifery. Upon graduation each midwife is posted to rural health centres, to provide quality maternal health services to thousands of women – ensuring safer births and preventing injuries like obstetric fistula. 

Healing Hands of Joy’s mission is to see obstetric fistula eliminated from Ethiopia. They work to prevent this devastating childbirth injury, to find women with fistula and refer them for treatment, and to rehabilitate women who are recovering, helping them reintegrate in their community. Through their Safe Motherhood Ambassador programme, women who have been cured return to their communities to identify new cases of fistula and educate expectant mothers on safe delivery. HHOJ also works on a wider community level, hosting workshops, training religious leaders, holding film screenings and educating men and women, to raise awareness and change attitudes towards this socially-isolating condition.

Hope of Light provides obstetric fistula treatment at 3 Fistula Centres in Gondar, Jimma and Assela. The organisation was founded by Dr Ambaye WoldeMichael, a renowned fistula surgeon, who was originally trained by Dr Catherine Hamlin. HOL provides medical supplies for fistula care, trains doctors in fistula surgery, raises awareness of fistula with health professionals and her team provides care and support for the women they treat through pre- and post-operative counselling.

Wings of Healing are providing vital medical care by re-equipping health centres damaged in conflict, restoring Maternal and Child Health Services, and running emergency medical clinics in camps for displaced people. They are also treating pregnant women, new mothers and children who are living in displacement camps and have acute malnutrition.