I have worked with International Midwife Assistance over the past 7 years primarily through work with the Teso Safe Motherhood Project. I have been constantly impressed by the organization and amazed by the impact of their services. One thing that stands out is the focus on education of the midwives at their partner sites. They focus on empowering local providers to provide high quality care and provide them with resources for success. I think that this approach has a much more lasting and positive impact for the entire community and I support their model. I started working with IMA as a medical student and am now a physician. As I have gone through my training and returned to Uganda, I have seen great strides in the confidence and scope of care that the midwives can provide to their patients. This last visit we taught the midwives and physician how to perform obstetric ultrasound. They learned how to use the ultrasound so quickly that I had to learn even more to continue teaching them! Now they will have another tool available to provide the highest level of care to their patients. They serve women and children who otherwise have no access to safe birth, antenatal care or vaccinations and they provide evidence-based, quality care. I plan to continue to support and work with this organization in any way I can. Thank you!
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When I worked with IMA as a volunteer in the Soroti, Uganda clinic, I was able to see firsthand how the organization’s work is positively transforming lives. The clinic sees hundreds of patients each day for free. It provides quality care for pregnant mothers, children who are sick with diseases like malaria or typhoid, women who want family planning services, and people who need HIV counseling and testing. Most importantly, it provides a safe and clean medical facility for women to deliver their babies with a trained midwife. Each day they are saving lives of women and children who would have no other way to access treatment. I talked with so many of the patients in the clinic, mostly women who subsistence farmed to feed their large families. Their lives were very difficult and they continued to tell me that IMA’s free medical care was saving their children’s’ lives.
Each day, I was impressed by the passionate Ugandan staff and the knowledge and professionalism they used when treating the poorest of the poor in their own community. IMA provides funds for many of the midwives and nurses’ training and it also brings in volunteer doctors and midwives from the US to complement and further that training. The result of IMA’s work is truly inspiring. The Ugandan staff is providing quality care and continues to expand the programs and the reach of the clinic because they understand the community’s needs and know how to accomplish big projects. One example I saw was the expansion of the family planning program, driven by two midwives with great ideas and passion, who used a creative skit to teach local villages about the subject. They understood the best way to teach their community, and with IMA’s support, they created a project and implemented it.
Not only is IMA providing quality care to a community in need, they are doing so in a way that empowers local citizens and educates the entire community. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with IMA as a medical student and I believe my experience will make me a more compassionate and aware physician. It has opened my perspective of the world and given me a shining example of how an organization that carefully designs and implements its projects with a grassroots focus can have a profound impact.
IMA delivers an amazingly huge bang for dollar donated. 94% of its expenses in 2017 were program related, according to IMA's Form 990. IMA's current project, it's birthing clinic in Uganda, educates, trains and employs locals to help their local community. U.S. volunteers and the executive director visit throughout the year to update training, provide supplies, review procedures, and ensure that the clinic continues its outstanding service. Zero maternal deaths since the clinic has opened. In an area that desperately needs medical help, this clinic called Teso Safe Motherhood Project provides prenatal care, access to safe births, community outreach and education, immunizations, bednets to avoid maleria, HIV testing, postpartum treatment, and so much more. Reading the statistics of people served in the annual newsletter shows an outstanding value of this lean organization.
teso safe motherhood has helped to save many lives of mothers and babies, malaria is still a problem in our society it has made some women to have abortion or miscarriages, anemia and many other more etc. with the great work the offer in the society has put much great impact to the lives of the women and children long live IMA and test safe motherhood at large.
through IMA
teso safe motherhood has helped many women who though access to clean and safe delivery and medicines was difficult through our poor communities which were affected by the war and still strongly to come out of poverty
am eyanu George is my name the services that Teso safe motherhood does are wonderful and great work to transform the lives of the mothers and babies long live international Midwives Assistance.
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I have been involved with IMA for many years and the work that IMA and the Teso Safe Motherhood Project do continues to inspire me on a daily basis. In order to save the lives of mothers and babies around the world, one need only look carefully at the model of TSMP - well-trained and kind care providers offering a high-level of care one would expect in any country. The TSMP birth center is a shining light!
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IMA is a non-profit that focuses on increasing the number of women and babies that survive childbirth. We are flexible and small, adjusting what we provide dependent upon the needs of the community we are serving. By increasing the number of qualified birth attendants as well as improving access to these attendants, fewer women will die from preventable causes. IMA teaches a model of respectful and compassionate care for all patients.
Hi,
My Name is Sharon, I visited this NGO last month. The aim of my visit was to go and see the work they are doing in Teso. I was overwhelmed with the number of teenage mothers that visited the center. It was a Wednesday, a day dedicated to the teenage mothers, I witnessed over 6 others who had bouncing babies. The nurses and doctors are very kind and well qualified. I commend Teso Safe Motherhood for the wonderful work they are doing to save lives and helping the poor community in Soroti by giving them high-quality healthcare.
International Midwife Assistance has been critical in the founding and development of Teso Safe Motherhood in Soroti, Uganda. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. The loss of a mother (and often with her the new baby) is a tragedy that affects not only the immediate family but the extended family, the village, and the country. Children who lose their mom are less educated than their peers from intact families, and are less stable and successful in their employment. Teso Safe Motherhood shows the way mothers lives can be preserved. I am a certified nurse midwife and family nurse practitioner and I have volunteered for International Midwife Assistance since 2006, in Afghanistan and Uganda. Their projects are examples of the very finest care under difficult situations. I recommend International Midwife Assistance unequivocally.
I have had the honor of volunteering with IMA. It is such an amazing organization of big-hearted people looking for a way to do good in the world. Their success in Afghanistan, Haiti, and now Uganda speaks for itself and I'm excited to see the great work they will continue to do in the future.
IMA is a beacon of hope and excellence in women’s healthcare in Soroti, Uganda. With the dedicated and highly trained staff, mothers and babies are given the best and safest care during pregnancy, childbirth and the childbearing year.
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IMA saves the lives of mothers and babies in Uganda by providing prenatal, birth and newborn care free of charge. Each mother and child is treated with kindness and expertise. I was an honor to visit and work in the clinic.
I enjoy donating around the holidyas and often let folks know I made a donation in their name. I have found friends and coworkers really receptive to this as many are tired of the "trading money" we seem to do too often with modern-day gift giving. IMA is a wonderful organization and people enjoy the newsletter and seeing the impact the donation has on the lives of moms and babies. It is easy to donate and you will receive a letter to have on hand when doing your taxes, as well.
I am long time friend of the Woman Jennifer Braun (presently the Executive Director of IMA) and have followed her journey in starting up the non profit since it's inception. She basically fund raised the initial amount of $$ needed for the start up and reading the newsletter and stories about the Teso Safe Motherhood Project has been inspiring. What the clinic achieves and all of the accomplishments to date is a story in and of itself. Amazing work is being accomplished and the staff are the most dedicated people I have read about.
I have watched this organization grow and work in different countries. With deep integrity and respect for the local cultures, IMA has brought education, life saving models and skills to individuals and communities. The bulk of the funding always goes to the project, with the absolute minimum going to administration. And then, the beauty of it, the projects become more and more independent as they incorporate skills that increase the survival and health of babies, mothers and families and they go on to teach others. IMA is a rare gem.
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This organization puts your money to work, not only saving lives, but changing attitudes locally, through education, encouraging self sufficiency and self worth. IMA is thrifty and has excellent oversight. A small percentage is administration and the rest is programmatic. It's not about hand outs, the goal beyond feeding and providing lifesaving care and supplies is to teach health care providers and mothers and create locally sustainable projects that impact the health of infants, mothers and families in far reaching and intergenerational directions.
This is a great organization that stretches every dollar to benefit women. I personally have volunteered in the Uganda clinic and have visited the clinic in Soroti, Uganda. I’ve witnessed the babies delivered and the women who receive care at the clinic. I remain an active donor to IMA and will continue for as long as the organization remains intact. A little bit of money to this organization goes a long way. One of the things I appreciate about donating money to IMA, is being in direct email contact with the director. She lets me know what the clinic needs and how much it will cost. A little bit of money goes a long way. And I love that. It’s amazing to see how the money I donate changes and improves lives.
I continue to meet the patients, staff and international volunteers who are part of International Midwife Assistance's health work in Uganda. All speak highly about International Midwife Assistance as an organisation. I believe there is more to their gratitude...of which comes blessings to everyone who donates to International Midwife Assistance and helps it extend quality healthcare to those in need that they wouldn't have otherwise found or delivered easily.
International Midwife Assistance is a non profit dedicated to improving the welfare of women who live in places in the world where maternal and infant mortality is high. IMA and its partnership with other nonprofits and, most importantly the communities where IMA has served has significantly improved the health and lives of women and their families. I have volunteered as a physician with IMA in Uganda, working in the Teso Safe Motherhood Project in Soroti and their outreach clinics as well. I have seen the impact that providing skilled, compassionate care to women has had; it insures the best outcomes in their care. Imagine the statistic of 0 (yes, zero!) maternal deaths in 2013 and the significant effect it has on families and the community as a whole. And please imagine the impact providing women with family planning options has on the future of these women. I have be honored to be a board member of International Midwife Assistance.
IMA has improved maternal child heath by increasing the number of qualified.skilled and competent midwifes to attend to birth,decreasing the number of traditional birth attendances.
IMA has connected TSMP to KANGU which sponsors moms for safe births. This gives women in Teso- Uganda a beacon of hope
