Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate (529 deaths /100,000 live births) in the Western Hemisphere. Approximately one in eighty women will eventually die of a complication in pregnancy. The main causes of maternal deaths are high blood pressure (eclampsia), uncontrolled bleeding, and infections, including HIV. Many of these deaths are avoidable but most women deliver at home without the benefit of a skilled healthcare provider because of the cost of healthcare in Haiti. Additionally, because of difficult mountainous terrain and long distances from a medical facility, many rural women cannot access a hospital or clinic where obstetrical emergencies can be managed.

In 2010, Medicine For Peace (MFP) partnered with the Alma Mater Hospital (AMH) in the mountainous Gros Morne region of Haiti to start a comprehensive women’s health program. AMH provides healthcare for a population of approximately 130,000 people, many living in remote hamlets. The hospital is an 80-bed facility that houses an active obstetrics unit staffed by a physician, nurses, midwives, and community health workers and is capable of handling most obstetric emergencies, including performing caesarian sections. The focus of the MFP maternal health initiative is to decrease the staggering high maternal death rates in rural Haiti. The MFP initiative promotes and facilitates free, safe deliveries in hospital, as well as a complete range of prenatal and postpartum maternal baby care.

Medicine for Peace (MFP) is a medical relief and humanitarian organization, founded in 1991 by my incredible father, Dr. Michael Viola. MFP provides medical care to victims of war and extreme poverty and has developed medical and mental health programs in El Salvador, Iraq, Bosnia, and Haiti. For more than a decade, the MFP women’s health program in Haiti has provided cancer prevention education and therapy, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, family planning, palliative care, and a host of other vital services to more than 10,000 Haitian women. MFP also operates the Clinic for Torture Victims in Baltimore while playing an active role in the worldwide effort to end female genital mutilation.

We see women’s skincare health as an inclusive endeavor. As such, Lady Polpo is committed to working with mamas in Haiti to provide financial support and education for a healthy childbirth. For every product sold at Lady Polpo, $1 will be donated directly to the MFP maternal health initiative.