About This Project
Combating maternal and child mortality are global priorities but are very challenging to assess in vulnerable and difficult to reach populations, including female sex workers (FSW) and their children.
During meetings with FSW in Kampala, Uganda in 2015, we learned that there are many maternal deaths among FSW and many deaths among their children. This study will identify the causes of these deaths among these mothers and children so that effective prevention programs can be implemented.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
Studies on FSW focus primarily on HIV and there has been little research done on maternal mortality (MM) among FSW or mortality among their children. However, during focus group discussions with FSW in Kampala in 2015 they reported maternal deaths of other FSW and deaths of their children.
Programs and services should be evidence-based, but in this case we do not have the evidence on which to base program. Therefore, data from this study are critical to for the development of effective programs to prevent MM among FSW and deaths of their children in Uganda.
To collect these data I will utilize the sisterhood methodology to identify MM among FSW, which I developed during a study in Cambodia and which provided the first ever data on maternal deaths among FSW.
What is the significance of this project?
The data from this study are critical for informing NGOs about the leading causes of maternal mortality among FSW in Uganda so that programs and services to prevent these deaths can be developed and implemented as well as to raise awareness about these issues. For example, I did a similar study in Cambodia were I identified abortion as the leading cause of maternal mortality among FSW in Cambodia. The study was quickly picked up by the largest newspaper in Cambodia bringing significant awareness to the situation of FSW. The other significance of the study is that it will be the first in Uganda to identify why children of FSW die. These results will also be used to educate appropriate organizations about the situation of these children so that these deaths can be prevented.
What are the goals of the project?
The goal of this study to is to identify the causes of maternal mortality among FSW in Kampala and the causes of death among their children.
The methodology will be based on a similar to that which I used in a similar study in Cambodia in 2013. That study identified the leading cause of death among FSW as abortion and HIV as the leading cause of death among their children. This methodology involves recruiting FSW to provide information about maternal deaths of other FSW and the deaths of their children.
I would like to being the study in March 2017. I estimate it will take at least one month to conduct all of the interviews and another month to enter and analyze the data.
Budget
The total budget for this study is $15,120. However, since funding is “all or nothing” for this campaign, meaning that if I do not reach my goal we will not receive any of the donations, my goal for this campaign is just enough to allow me to at least start the study while seeking additional funding. Of course if anyone would like to donate more than $4,860 that would be greatly appreciated.
Endorsed by
Meet the Team
Team Bio
In Uganda I will partner with Rhythm of Life (ROL), a local NGO that works with FSW. During 2015 we partnered to convene focus groups of the FSW. After those meeting I helped to secure a small grant to start a support group for FSW who are mothers.
Brian Willis
In 2003 I was invited to work with an organization in India that was combating human trafficking. While they looked for trafficked adolescent girls in brothels I took note of all the mothers and their children. Since then this has been my primary focus. Several years late a group of FSW who were mothers in Kathmandu, Nepal, asked me to promise that I would continue to work to help their children. I did promise them and this lead to the founding of the organization I lead, Global Health Promise. We do research, programs, and advocacy. The study in Uganda is related to all three of these activities: we need research to know what is harming the mothers and their children, we then use this information to develop and implement programs to prevent the harm we has identified through our research, and we use the data from the research to advocate for the mothers and their children to funders, government agencies, and other NGOs.
Lab Notes
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Project Backers
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- $5Total Donations
- $2.50Average Donation