Safe Motherhood
PROJECTS

Empowering Mothers, Improving Lives in M’bang’ombe

Our Safe Motherhood Unit (SMU) is designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality, ensuring healthier families and stronger communities for generations to come. By providing a safe, supportive environment for expectant mothers, the SMU enables earlier access to care and crucial support in the critical pre-birth period.

The Challenge

Malawi faces one of the highest rates of pre-term births in the world – 18.1% – driven by persistent malaria, HIV, malnutrition, and limited access to healthcare. Many women arrive at clinics only during labour due to a lack of in-hospital support and food, increasing risks for both mothers and babies.

The SMU addresses these challenges by providing a secure place to stay, access to nutritional support, and prenatal care – all designed to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.

The Safe Motherhood Unit

The unit goes beyond childbirth. Mothers receive prenatal care, nutrition education, HIV testing, and child health services, while the facility itself has been expanded to include new inpatient wards, a SEND therapy room, and permaculture gardens – supporting live cooking demonstrations and teaching sustainable food practices.
Here’s how:

  • Safe and Secure Environment: Clean, comfortable accommodation for expectant mothers, reducing stress and improving well-being.
  • Nutritional Support: Fresh, organic vegetables grown on-site and nutrition education help tackle malnutrition’. To change to ‘Fresh, organic vegetables grown on-site and nutrition education of 6 food groups help tackle malnutrition. Onsite permaculture training to both mothers and fathers is given in the permaculture garden and families supplied with a watering can and seeds to start their own small garden at home.
  • Prenatal Training: Women and their husbands learn essential skills.
  • Disease Prevention: Education and screenings reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of diseases.
  • Reducing Premature Births and Complications: Early support and healthy habit promotion improve pregnancy outcomes.
  • SEND Identification: Babies born with ‘birth asphyxia’ are assessed for special needs and monitored through the under 5’s clinics.  Early intervention to these babies can change their future lives.

Thank you to SCOPE Malawi for implementing the permaculture garden and Halcrow Foundation for supporting making of bicycle ambulances and providing Nutritional packs to parents of newborns.

Sustainable Food and Empowerment

The SMU fosters self-sufficiency and lasting impact through:

  • Organic Vegetable Gardens: Teaching permaculture techniques and sustainable food practices.
  • Seed Starter Kits: Mothers receive kits to continue growing nutritious food at home.

Early Childhood Development and Community Outreach

Our work extends beyond birth:

  • Collaboration with the maternity ward ensures early identification of newborns with special needs.
  • Community members can access assessments, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy on designated days.
  • Ongoing support is provided through Under-5 clinics and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, strengthening long-term health and development.

This community-based approach ensures care continues from pregnancy through early childhood, strengthening families and improving long-term outcomes.