Carol Guzy

“Birth and Death: Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone”

The Washington Post

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Every pregnancy is a gamble in Sierra Leone. A time of joy for most expectant parents, childbirth in this impoverished West African nation is too often synonymous with death. With one in eight women dying in childbirth, Sierra Leone has the world’s highest rate of maternal mortality. Many deaths could be prevented with basic medical care that doesn’t exist after a decade of civil war damaged an already-fragile infrastructure.

Guzy’s photographs document conditions at Freetown’s sprawling city hospital, and at a rural maternity clinic in Kabala, where two doctors (one an opthalmologist) serve a population of 300,000 people.

More than 500,000 women a year—about one every minute—die in childbirth across the globe, almost always from causes that could be pre-vented by basic care. Skilled care by nurses, doctors or midwives before, during and after childbirth are cost-effective interventions that would prevent 80% of maternal deaths. But maternal mortality rarely gets attention from international donors, who are more focused on global health threats such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-AIDS.

Guzy’s story prompted a tremendous response, coming right after the passage of the Senate resolution on maternal mortality. It boosted momentum on Capitol Hill and among advocacy organizations, raising awareness and encouraging donations.