Childbirth injuries remain largely neglected, despite their devastating impact on the lives of girls and women who suffer from conditions like fistula and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). These injuries are typically caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without timely medical intervention, multiple births with insufficient spacing, and poor nutrition.

Globally, around 40% of women will experience POP, which significantly diminishes quality of life—especially for those in low-resource settings. Surgical intervention is often the recommended treatment for severe cases of prolapse, but access to this care remains a major challenge in many low-income regions.

Addressing this gap is crucial to improving women’s health and well-being worldwide.

To address this need, we have developed a comprehensive program in collaboration with specialist advisors, Dr. Barbara Hall and Dr. John Taylor. Our initiative focuses on a surgical upskilling training program for skilled, experienced, and passionate gynaecologists working in low-resource settings. We also provide essential training for nurses in post-operative care to ensure comprehensive support for patients.

The goal of this upskilling is to reduce prolapse recurrence rates to levels comparable with current medical literature and to restore normal anatomy for affected women. Once training is completed, we facilitate free access to quality surgery for disadvantaged women who would otherwise be unable to receive care at these upskilled clinics and hospitals.

Since the program’s inception, we have trained over 70 doctors in prolapse management, primarily in Bangladesh, but also in Nepal, Uganda, and South Sudan. To date, we have directly provided over 19,000 women with life-changing access to quality surgical treatment. We have also supported over 1,000 fistula surgeries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least one ultrasound scan before 24 weeks of gestation to estimate gestational age, detect fetal anomalies and multiple pregnancies, and reduce labour induction in post-term pregnancies. This scan significantly enhances a woman’s pregnancy experience.

However, in many low-resource and remote areas, mothers have limited access to these essential services due to a scarcity of sonographers, who are typically concentrated in urban centres and tertiary hospitals. This urban concentration often forces mothers to travel long distances, causing delays in diagnosis and additional expenses. To address this gap, WHO suggests training alternative health workers in ultrasound techniques through intensive programs, enhancing antenatal care in areas lacking radiologists.

The DAK Foundation, now DAK International Network (DIN), has partnered with six healthcare and community-based organizations in Nepal, Rwanda, Togo, Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi to provide portable ultrasound machines, training, and have created a collaborative coalition.

This coalition fosters global mentorship, resource sharing, and expertise exchange, collectively overcoming challenges and strengthening global antenatal care.