Summary
Organization name
Village Health Partnership
other names
VHP
2010
Tax id (EIN)
01-0967873
Category
Health Care
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
1601 East 19th Avenue Suite 4450Denver, CO 80218
Denver County, CO, US
ET
About
Impact
Thank you for caring about women and babies in rural Ethiopia.
"For over a decade, the Village Health Partnership (VHP) has been implementing safe motherhood projects to reach some of the most underserved rural communities in Ethiopia, where most women still face childbirth without access to skilled care, safe facilities, clean water, and emergency transportation and referral services. Through its community-driven programs, the VHP has trained hundreds of nurse midwives, strengthened women’s access to obstetric services by constructing maternity waiting areas and promoting its use, and helped thousands of women receive life-saving maternal healthcare and treatment for devastating childbirth complications such as obstetric fistula. Every mother saved means a family preserved, a child protected, and a community is strengthened. With continued support from compassionate donors, VHP can expand its reach so that more women in rural Ethiopia survive childbirth with dignity, hope, and the chance to build healthy futures for their families."
- Teklemariam Ergat Yarinbab (PhD), Policy, Strategy, and Research Analyst, Federal Ministry of Health, Ethiopia
At VHP, we believe that every mother deserves the chance to survive childbirth and live a full, healthy life afterwards.
In rural Ethiopia, women often face enormous barriers to maternal care: long travel distances, shortages of trained providers, and limited access to lifesaving treatment. Only 34% of women receive prenatal care and fewer than 10% of births occur in a health facility. Without skilled assistance at the time of delivery, one in 10 women die in childbirth, one in two develop a debilitating complication, and many more babies die. As a result, Ethiopia has one of the highest maternal and neonatal mortality rates in the world.
No woman should lose her health, her future, or her life because quality care was out of reach.
Village Health Partnership works alongside healthcare providers and communities in rural Ethiopia to strengthen maternal and newborn care, improve healthcare systems, and help women receive the care they need.
When you support Village Health Partnership, you are choosing a world where a woman’s chance of surviving childbirth and living a healthy, full life afterward does not depend on where she lives.
Why Your Gift Matters
Your donation is an investment in safer motherhood, stronger healthcare systems, and healthier communities.
When you give to Village Health Partnership, you are joining healthcare providers, local leaders, and supporters who believe:
• Mothers deserve safe, clean, and effective care
• Geography should not determine who lives or dies in childbirth
• Local healthcare workers should have the resources and training they need
Testimonials
"Fistula Foundation has proudly partnered with Village Health Partnership (VHP) since 2019. Through this collaboration, VHP has provided 138 life-transforming fistula surgeries to women in need, and demonstrates a strong commitment to reaching women in some of the most remote and underserved areas of Ethiopia. VHP's dedicated and passionate team continues to make a meaningful impact, and we are proud to partner with them in this important work."
- Lara Veldman, Senior Program Associate, Fistula Foundation
"We are grateful for the longstanding collaboration between the Village Health Partnership and WEFTA in strengthening water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in healthcare facilities across the West Omo Zone of Ethiopia. Through this partnership, critical improvements to health centers and hospitals have enhanced access to safe water, improved sanitation infrastructure, and strengthened infection prevention and patient care for vulnerable communities."
- Tim S. Wellman, CWP, Executive Director, Water Engineers for the Americas and Africa
"As a mom who navigated two challenged pregnancies and deliveries, NICU stays and neonatal surgeries, my heart leapt at the chance to join VHP and be part of its mission to help impoverished women experience life's ultimate gift: having healthy babies and healthy families. I've stayed for more than 15 years though because of VHP's drive to grow, expand and improve. VHP is now supported by extraordinary subject matter experts in Ethiopia and the U.S. who freely give their time to build and maintain complete systems of care, bringing water, sanitation, hygiene, solar power and clinical excellence powered by data--all the things that healthy deliveries require-- ultimately to every mother, baby and family we touch. I started with a desire to give and it's been me who has learned and received the greatest gifts of love and joy from the communities we support."
- Laury Bowman, JD, Board Chair, Village Health Partnership
“The STTP and Rehab Program are very essential for OF patients to restoring their dignity, hope and confidence to reintegrate in their community.”
- Martha Deressa, Rehabilitation Program Director
Giving Activity
Mission
The mission of Village Health Partnership (VHP) is to prevent maternal and neonatal death in childbirth, and to treat and prevent gynecologic complications of childbirth in rural Ethiopia.
Background Statement
VHP was founded in 2010 when community leaders in Ethiopia approached the Founder & President, Margaret “Migs” Muldrow, MD, to partner with them to improve maternal health. Dr. Muldrow has a deep knowledge of southwestern Ethiopia’s culture, language, and medical needs as she grew up in the country and has remained connected to the area as an adult. Dr. Muldrow knew she was in a unique position to help tackle the challenges faced by women living in some of the poorest and most remote parts of rural Ethiopia.
A group of doctors and area experts came together in 2010 to form a board and launch VHP. The initial program offered was the Screen, Transport, and Treat Program (STT), which continues today and provides direct healthcare services to women suffering from gynecologic complications from childbirth. VHP first provided services to only a few women at a time, but has grown through trust to now serve 175+ women each year.
Through this direct fieldwork, VHP was confronted with the marginal capacity of maternal healthcare in rural Ethiopia, including:
1) An extreme lack of skilled health care providers—currently there is only one physician trained in obstetrics and gynecology for every 1.8 million people.
2) Unsafe conditions of existing health facilities—most facilities lack running water, adequate sanitary conditions, and basic infrastructure for maternal healthcare.
Despite the Ethiopian government urging women to seek medical care, these factors contributed to unsafe conditions for child delivery and a significant lack of trust in the healthcare system. It became clear that prevention efforts were key to reducing maternal morbidity and mortality.
In response, VHP launched a WASH & Maternal Health Initiative (MHI) in 2017. Working with community stakeholders, VHP is implementing year round access to water, measures for sanitation and hygiene and infrastructure for maternal health in 11 health facilities. These facilities form a health system of care that covers the entire West Omo Zone.
VHP is also incorporating skill-building curriculum for rural health care providers in clean and safe healthcare, child delivery, and Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC), as well as regular training and mentorship for nurse midwives in all ten of the target health facilities in the West Omo Zone.
As we've learned more about the challenges facing women and families in the communities we serve, we have expanded our efforts to include a new food security initiative that use model farms to teach women sustainable gardening practices, improve household nutrition, and grow food that can benefit the broader community. We are also supporting rehabilitation and reintegration programs for women recovering from obstetric fistula and other childbirth-related injuries, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, and livelihoods training that help women regain independence and rebuild their lives.
VHP’s approach of direct provision of healthcare, capacity building projects, and education and training of healthcare providers is producing sustainable outcomes in rural Ethiopia. The programs address the immediate and long-term needs of maternal health by establishing health systems of care in some of the poorest communities in the world.
Media gallery
Organization Data
Denver, CO 80218