"No Woman Should Die While Giving Life."

This September, I will be running a full marathon in support of The Safe Birth Project in Zimbabwe.

I had the incredible opportunity to witness the impact of this project when I visited Zimbabwe to provide training to local junior doctors and midwives alongside my wonderful colleagues from Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

The Safe Birth Project launched in March with a mission to improve maternal and neonatal care in Zimbabwe by delivering training to local midwives. Zimbabwe is among the top five counties in southern Africa with the highest maternal mortality rates, which is 30 times higher than in the UK. The Safe Birth Project began with my lovely friend and colleague Mary, who is from Zimbabwe herself. After coming to the UK to work as a midwife, she wanted to return to her home country and improve maternity care with the knowledge that she has gained. This project is a 'train the trainer' initiative focused on training in managing obstetric emergencies and neonatal resuscitation. Our aim is to empower Zimbabwean midwives to continue educating others and embedding sustainable improvements in care. Already this project has had an incredible impact on maternal and neonatal care in the local hospitals in the Mutoko and Mudzi districts, and it was truly inspiring to witness the passion that that midwives have towards learning and implementing what they learnt through the project.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated, and will directly contribute to supporting the training of more healthcare professionals in Zimbabwe to improve care for women and babies.

Thank you so much.

Hikari

Instagram page: @thesafebirthproject

Blog post:

https://www.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/blog/2025/05/06/midwives-share-knowledge-with-colleagues-in-zimbabwe-as-part-of-international-day-of-the-midwife-and-the-safe-birth-project/#:~:text=Ever%20since%20then%20she%20has,the%20Trust%20receive%20every%20year.