Medical Care-Pregnant Mothers & Children, Nigeria

Merciful Hearts Foundation (MHF) a 501 (C) (3) organization is requesting your support to help poor high-risk pregnant women who do not get any medical care. This program is a grassroots, faith-based, hands-on program that operates under the auspices of the local churches located in the rural villages.
Access to healthcare services in rural communities is lacking throughout Nigeria. Every year thousands of pregnant women and their children die from preventable health conditions such as iron deficiency anemia, diarrhea, lack of prenatal care, blood loss, and others. In these rural communities, more than 87 percent of women have no access to any type of healthcare; the incidence of maternal and infant mortality is about 90 percent in addition to hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. Of the women who survive, 15-20 percent suffer short or long-term disabilities, such as hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder, leaving them incontinent of urine or feces or both, ruptured uterus and others. In this culture, the value of a woman is dependent on the number of children she has and preferably male children.
The rate of infant and child mortality is extremely high in rural communities in Nigeria due to malnutrition, malaria, and infectious diseases. MHF volunteers work with local church members, clergy, and regional healthcare facilities near these rural communities to provide the necessary medical services to poor pregnant women, infants and children in the area.
MHF works under the auspices of Orlu Diocese with the Most Reverend Bishop Augustine Tochukwu Ukwuoma and St. Basil the Great Catholic Parish Priest.