Many of you will have heard that I am taking a three-month "career break" (NHS terminology) - leaving on 4th January - to go to Ethiopia to work in maternity a hospital in a remote town called Gimbi, 500km (and 10 hours by road) west of Addis Ababa.  The hospital is funded by a small charity called Maternity Worldwide and takes volunteer doctors from Europe to provide direct hands-on care and to train local healthcare workers. 

One of the WHO's Millennium Development Goals is to reduce maternal mortality worldwide by 75% by 2015. This is a laudable aim but sadly seems unlikely to be achieved.  Maternal mortality in large parts of Africa is unbelievably high. Ethiopia has good rates by African standards but the statistic is still 670 per 100,000 pregnancies compared to 7 per 100,000 in the UK.  In Ethiopia this means a woman has 1 in 27 risk of dying in relation to pregnancy (five or six babies) in her lifetime.  The risks in rural areas such as those around Gimbi are much higher than the rates for Ethiopia as a whole.  Furthermore, in common with much of the rest of Africa, Ethiopia also has very high infant death rates.

Many people have asked me why I am doing this: I am realistic that as a contribution to reducing maternal mortality it will be a drop in a very large ocean but every little must help.  More than anything it is to be reminded of just how lucky I am to have the healthcare system we do in the UK (for all its challenges) both as a provider and a receiver of medical care.

Those who know me know that I am never going to do a sponsored bike-ride; and a marathon seems equally unlikely: so I thought I would ask you to consider sponsoring me (ie by helping maternity worldwide) for my trip to Ethiopia.  Not a conventional achievement sponsorship - I am going to do it anyway.  But as we all prepare for Christmas and think about 2010, if you feel tempted to donate to a good cause please consider giving to Maternity Worldwide.  Because Maternity Worldwide is small it has the advantage that any donation you give goes predominantly to the hospitals it supports rather than the administration of a large charity machine.  There is a website if you are interested in seeing what they are doing in more detail (www.maternityworldwide.org).

Thank you

(Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer).