Africa's New Agents of Progress in Female Health: Traditional Male Chiefs

Seleiman Bishagazi and the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP) are piloting a program that is on track to stop the practice of female genital mutilation. When a girl undergoes circumcision, her family receives monetary gifts from the community and the woman who performs the cutting is paid as well. This solution focuses on getting women into agriculture so that they have a steady income and don't need to rely on genital mutilation for capital.

Latin American women in San Francisco have suffered from post-partum depression, social isolation, and chronic stress at the time of their pregnancies. Run by midwives, the Centering Pregnancy program at the San Francisco General Hospital provides patient-centered care, an environment to speak in Spanish, and a nurturing community for women’s group appointments. The results boast fewer c-sections and pre-term births, and an improvement in emotional support and overall prenatal health.

Singing Mamas is a community-based choir program where new mothers gather with their babies for group singing sessions. The program creates safe spaces where mothers can participate in music while their babies are present, providing peer support and creative expression, both of which help with postnatal depression and maternal mental health challenges. Multiple mothers report feeling increased mindfulness, calmer nervous systems and a reconnection with their pre-motherhood identities.

More women are being incarcerated around the United States and that has spurred more institutions to create prison nurseries, which allow women to be with their newborns. It's not a new idea, but it's finding support among prison advocates as well as budget hawks because research shows nurseries can lower recidivism rates among mothers. The idea of children in prison remains controversial however.

Many African American women are reluctant to breastfeed their babies. The Mother Nuture Project at Detroit’s St. John Hospital and Medical Center offers peer counseling to educate women (mostly African American) and encourage breastfeeding. Mother Nurture’s program has helped boost breastfeeding rates from 46 percent to 64 percent.

In Kern County, where pregnancy-related mortality rates are more than double the California average and Black mothers face life-threatening complications at nearly three times the rate of white women, community doulas are working to bridge the gap between patients and the medical system. Since California expanded Medi-Cal coverage to include doula services in January 2023, more than 1,400 doulas have enrolled statewide, with active training pipelines building the workforce locally.

In 2025, Bauchi State launched the Impact Project to address Nigeria's maternal health crisis by deploying 100 Skilled Birth Attendants across 20 Local Government Areas, alongside free delivery kits and regular salary payments to increase access to professional childbirth care.

The Bauchi State Impact Project aims to improve maternal and newborn health by training 100 people to become skilled birth attendants. Despite infrastructure challenges, the Project not only provides work and purpose to those trained, but also helps make childbirth safer by providing much-needed care.

The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council focuses on improving maternal health outcomes by providing reproductive health and family planning resources, including contraception and educational counseling, at clinics, local health facilities, and community organizations. Since 2010, the country’s maternal mortality rate has fallen and the rate of married women using modern contraceptives has reached 69%.

The Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council implemented a comprehensive national family planning program that offers integrated reproductive health services delivered through multiple channels including local clinics, mobile outreach units, community health workers, and youth-friendly centers. The program provides access to contraceptives, counseling, and peer education to address maternal mortality and unplanned pregnancy rates. Over the past decade, maternal mortality has dropped by 78%, and unintended pregnancies have also significantly decreased.