For pregnant women in remote areas, reaching medical care can take days and cost a week’s wages. Distance is one reason a woman in a low-income country is around 35 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a woman in a wealthy one, and one reason a baby born in a rural area is less likely to see their first birthday than one born in a city. <a href="https://lumeamara.online/?p=5131" title="Major expansion of community mental <a href="https://lumeamara.online/?p=5110" title="3rd International Conference on Pediatrics and Child Health“>health support across England”>Community midwives help close this gap by offering advice during pregnancy, birth support and emergency care in the home. Yet access to a health worker is only one part of safe care. Good nutrition during the first 1,000 days – from conception to age two – gives babies a better chance to grow well and stay healthy, while clean water, toilets and good hygiene help reduce risks for mothers and babies. When further medical support is needed, teleconsultations can help bridge the distance.
Across East Africa and Pakistan, AKDN has taught almost 8,000 nurses and midwives to degree standard. In 10 countries across Africa and Asia, its nutrition programmes provide vitamin and mineral supplements to expectant and new mothers, train healthcare workers to identify and treat malnutrition and educate them to support good nutrition and breastfeeding. Its agencies provided safe drinking water and sanitation to almost a million people in 2025 and have provided more than 101,000 teleconsultations.
At Nansio Hospital on remote Ukerewe Island in Tanzania, new equipment, an operating theatre and trained staff mean pregnant women do not have to take a ferry to the mainland for specialised care. The upgrades to Nansio and 79 other health facilities are part of a programme with the governments of Canada and Tanzania that is improving health care for 700,000 women and infants
When mothers get the right care, more lives are saved
For World Breastfeeding Week, explore five ways to improve care for mothers and babies in remote areas. Watch the animation above or discover more in 5 ways to improve maternal and infant survival in remote areas
