This year Yale Women’s Hockey is continuing to work with Teaming Up in order to raise awareness and advocacy for improving maternal health in the developing world. YWIH established Teaming Up in September 2006, after learning about the threatening conditions that mothers face during pregnancy around the world and realizing that meeting the goals of maternal health requires a global effort.
The greatest challenges to maternal health are faced by women in the developing world. Every minute of every day, one woman dies during childbirth. Nearly 600,000 women die each year from pregnancy related complications, and 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. Improving maternal health is not just a health concern; it is a human rights concern. Every woman deserves the opportunity to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and this is possible with education and access to proper care.
In the year 2000, the United States and the United Nations pledged to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by the year 2015. Today, we are half-way to that deadline and progress has been far from sufficient. We hope that through our participation in this project, we will become part of the solution by increasing awareness and support in our own country.
Last year, YWIH raised over $6000 to support educational workshops and a grass roots project (UbuMama) in Hamburg, South Africa. Please visit Hamburg, South Africa to read the stories and messages of the women we supported. This season we will continue our commitment to honor and support women around the world. Building upon our efforts of last season, we will continue to raise awareness and advocacy on campus as well as fundraising an additional $6000 to support the UbuMama project and safe motherhood education in Yemen where a woman’s risk of dying in childbirth is 1 in 39. We hope that you will take the time to read more about maternal health and the UbuMama project, so that you can join us in raising awareness and encouraging and empowering women across the world.
