A big hello and welcome to our choctober campaign from everyone at Maternity Worldwide, where we work to reduce the number of women and babies dying or injured in pregnancy and childbirth, striving to achieve a vision of a world in which all women and their babies can access safe and appropriate childbirth regardless of where they live.

So... Step away from the Snickers, trash the Twix and move away from the Mars...it's chocs away for Choctober!

Did you know the UK eats the most chocolate in the world?!

With the average Brit consuming around 8.4 kg of the lovely stuff last year, do you think you have what it takes to go a whole month without?!

Whether you are a chocolatier or chocoholic, chuck the choc this October to help save a mothers life in childbirth!

Ask friends to sponsor you or donate what you would have spent on chocolate for the month of October. You can donate here or set up your own JustGiving page to keep all your sponsorship in one place and so family, friends and colleagues can show you their support throughout the month.

Whatever you raise will enable us to empower and support women to give birth safely. It costs, on average, just £15 to provide a safe birth for a mother and her baby and as little as £1 for a course of antibiotics to prevent infection following childbirth. Together our small efforts can make life changing differences so come on, let's ditch the Dairy Milk for Choctober!

What's more is that our top fundraisers win some incredible chocolate pieces (including a Benedict Cumberbatch Easter egg!) donated from gourmet chocolate shops which so far includes Willie's Cacao, Chocolitian and Montezumas!

To find out more about our Choctober campaign or to sign up and get the free Choctober fundraising pack, please visit https://www.maternityworldwide.org/news/choctober/

Thank you for your support!