“Mother Africa” by Ben Heine of Belgium and “Mother and Child” by Leigh of Cyprus

It has been five days since she gave birth in the small dirt-hut in Hargeisa, Somaliland. The child’s placenta is still inside her and she is bleeding heavily as infection spreads through her body. A local healer gives her herbs and prays to the spirits for mercy and forgiveness, but the overpowering stench of mortified flesh confirms that her methods are ineffective. Pushing through the onlookers of family and neighbors, a paramedic shouts commands – the mother is likely not going to make it, but she is rushed to the hospital on the other side of town. Unfortunately, stories such as this one are not rare in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia:

Rank	Countries	Deaths/Live Births
1	Malawi:	1,100 per 100,000
2	Mozambique:	1,100 per 100,000
3	Eritrea:	1,000 per 100,000
4	Guinea-Bissau:	910 per 100,000
5	Chad:	830 per 100,000
6	Zimbabwe:	700 per 100,000
7	Laos:	650 per 100,000
8	Zambia:	650 per 100,000
9	Cote d’Ivoire:	600 per 100,000
10	Niger:	590 per 100,000
11	Kenya:	590 per 100,000
12	Mali:	580 per 100,000
13	Senegal:	560 per 100,000
14	Sudan:	550 per 100,000
15	Solomon Islands:	550 per 100,000
16	Mauritania:	550 per 100,000
17	Nepal:	540 per 100,000
18	India:	540 per 100,000
19	Guinea:	530 per 100,000

Statistics – NationMaster.com

The marked disparity between developed and third-world countries is even more distinguished in the survival rates of its moms: 1 in 8 women die in childbirth in places such as Sierra Leone compared to 1 in 17,400 in Sweden. The difference is stunning. A woman in a developed country has access to emergency care, doctors and specialists, medicine, and countless free educational resources; a woman in India, on the other hand, is limited to the help and expertise of family members and neighbors, and may never be able to see a medical professional during her entire life.

Why are hundreds of thousands of mothers across the globe dying to give birth? About a half a million women died in childbirth last year from severe bleeding, bacterial infection, variants of gestational hypertension, ectopic pregnancy, puerperal sepsis (childbed fever), amniotic fluid embolism, obstructed labor, and complications of unsafe or unsanitary abortions. Most deaths can be easily avoided through education, contraception, proper nutrition, and common medicine. In light of a global economic slowdown along with poor women’s inherent inferiority in entrenched patriarchal communities, progress has been relatively slow albeit steady.

So how can you help? I have been partnering with the Chicago-based Save-A-Mother Project, which aims to reduce maternal mortality rates in the Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, India. As one of the most densely populated regions in the world, with over 190 million residents, Uttar Pradesh contributes about 160 daily deaths from pregnancy and childbirth complications to the global total. In order to combat the staggering mortality rates for both mothers and infants, Save-A-Mother programs educate women about pregnancy, nutrition, immunization, delivery and proper care of a child. However, the organization runs on the good will of a very few dedicated people, and desperately needs sponsors and volunteers to help with the cause. I have also joined the White Ribbon Alliance, which is a great source of information, activist resources, and warm support.

The first time I read about maternal mortality in TIME – a story about Fatmata Conteh of Siera Leonne who bled to death from a tear in her cervix during childbirth – I was inspired to start a very special project called Artists for Moms, which I hope will help raise awareness of high maternal mortality rates in third-world countries (among other issues) with the help of the global artist community. Most of us know the love of our mothers; some of us know the feeling of emptiness at having lost her or having never met her. A mother should not die because she is too poor or too uneducated – Artists for Moms aims to unite the artist community for the purpose of spreading the message of hope through artwork. This website’s very first featured pieces (above) are “Mother Africa” by Ben Heine of Belgium and “Mother and Child” by Leigh of Cyprus. These artists help represent the hope, compassion, and faith necessary to help eradicate death from pregnancy complications that were cured decades ago.