Maternal Health, Liberia

Imagine a world where women and their families are empowered physically, emotionally, and spiritually through positive, healthy birth experiences. What would our world look like?

To properly explore this complex and fascinating question as part of a long-term documentary project on the Anthropology of Birth, I would need to understand all spectrums of the scale - the optimal birth scenarios as compared to the more challenging ones.

To interview and photograph...
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Imagine a world where women and their families are empowered physically, emotionally, and spiritually through positive, healthy birth experiences. What would our world look like?

To properly explore this complex and fascinating question as part of a long-term documentary project on the Anthropology of Birth, I would need to understand all spectrums of the scale - the optimal birth scenarios as compared to the more challenging ones.

To interview and photograph birthing women in a country like Liberia, which has endured almost 16 years of civil war and consequently has one of the highest infant (157 in 1,000 births) and maternal mortality rates in the world, (994 in 100, 000 births) would provide me with contrast and perspective in relation to other cultures.

Liberian families are dealing with basic issues including malnutrition, food shortages, sporadic and/or zero electricity, high unemployment, a battered transportation system, a new government and a dramatic shortage of doctors, nurses, midwives, medicine, hospital beds and funding.

"We need to have 1,400 midwives and we have about 300," says Liberian Health Minister Walter Gwenigale. This is drastically affecting the quality of the birth experiences of women across the country.

Traditional Midwives in rural Liberia are dealing with serious issues including a lack of sanitation, supplies for their birth kit, clean water, education and transportation - it is nearly impossible for pregnant women to reach a hospital or clinic for delivery.

One woman in Bong County I spoke with had never heard of HIV/AIDS or family planning before.

Birth is one of the single most important, challenging and rewarding experiences of a woman's life and every woman deserves to have a safe, supported, healthy experience. My hope is that this project will help to identify concrete ways in which we can support women around the world in having an empowered birth experience.
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