Julie Wilshire is currently working as CBM’s quality officer. She previously spent ten years living in Uganda supporting maternal and child health projects in the east Africa region. In 2018, the World Health Organisation estimated that every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of all maternal deaths occur...
For over 15 years Glenys has been a patron of CBM Australia, and has travelled to various countries meeting people living in poverty with a disability to see the work CBM does to help them. Glenys has had a long and exciting career, appearing in some of Australia’s most loved television shows like The Flying...
Glenys’ desire to help people with disabilities in poor countries began in her 20s when she worked for the United Nations in New York. “I’ve got such a heart for people with disabilities. Especially in developing nations. It’s such a challenge for most of them.” Glenys is right. It is such a struggle for the poorest of...
Who is she? She is a wife, a daughter, a beloved member of her community. She is a woman with hopes and dreams. And she is filled with love and joy at the prospect of becoming a mother. She is Merina. She is at risk of fistula. And she needs your help. Today there are 500,000 women in...
What is a fistula? A fistula occurs when an unborn baby’s head puts too much pressure on a mother’s maternal tissues, cutting off the blood supply. The tissue dies and leaves a hole, or fistula, which causes urine and sometimes faeces to leak uncontrollably. The main causes of fistula are extreme poverty and the low status...
Merina was filled with love and joy as she was about to become a first-time mother. She was hopeful for the future of her child, her husband and her growing family. As the due date was getting closer, she became more nervous and silently concerned for the health of her baby. Merina was nervous because in her country having a baby...