End of Year Letter.

13.12.2016

13 December 2016, Prishtina –

Dear friends,

Every day, mothers and children die due to lack of qualitative healthcare services and from diseases that are easy to cure. We at Action for Mothers and Children, along with many friends and partners, fight each day to change this. With friends and supporters like you, we are closer than ever to accomplish our goal, though the battle has not ended yet!

Today we are writing to thank you for being along our journey for all this year long and for supporting Action for Mothers and Children. As we struggle with holiday’s shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s cold weather, let us kindly be reminded that there are causes and vulnerable members around us who are worth this aggravation and an end-of-year gift. Blessed is the season that engages the whole community in acts of kindness and support, as we let another year go!

Thanks to your donations and support, the 2016 has been another exciting year at Action! Together, just as promised, we have:

• delivered 300 vials of Survanta medication for Kosovo babies. Around 250-300 babies are saved every year as a result of Survanta medication which is vital in developing lungs for premature babies;
• delivered 5 phototherapy lamps to the Neonatology Intensive Care Unit which are essential in treating jaundice in children;
• delivered essential medications worth of $150,000 to the Gynecology and Neonatology Clinics in the University Clinical Center of Kosovo (UCCK);
• have initiated the system of screening for retinopathy in premature babies for the first time in Kosovo, known as ROP Screening, which enables early diagnosis and helps prevent blindness in children;
• set up our 4^th and 5^th Women’s Health Resource Centers in Shterpce and Mitrovica where women receive unrestricted access to essential information about their pregnancy, labor and delivery, and newborn care, in their own language, which they would otherwise not have access to;
• established the first second-hand charity shop in Prishtina – Teshavesha – which mobilizes community members to collect and donate unused items, sells them to support mothers and children of Kosovo and employs marginalized women;
• initiated the cervical cancer screening program in Prishtina municipality for the first time which provides free Pap-tests for women. 1700 women have benefited from free testing on cervical cancer this year alone;
• launched the first online platform, beba-ks.com, which provides evidence-based health information for women and their families;
• established the K10 Coalition of organizations for sexual reproductive health and reproductive rights, being the first Coalition of its kind that gathers ten non-governmental organizations in a single body advocating for better reproductive health in Kosovo;

These achievements are all a result of your support and prove once again that humanitarian foundations cannot stand alone.

This year’s fundraising efforts of Cycle Kosovo for Children, Let’s Dance for Mothers and Children, Teshavesha and Meet Us Halfway make it possible for Action to continue its mission to save the lives of mothers and children in the Republic of Kosovo. In 2017 we will:

• Deliver the next set of Survanta medication to cover the national need for premature babies who need surfactant;
• Deliver cardio-pulmonary monitors to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which enable the continuous monitoring of heart activity to detect and track any abnormalities in baby’s heart as well as other medical supplies and equipment for maternity wards around Kosovo;
• Start the transportation of babies from regional hospitals to Prishtina for the first time in Kosovo. Up to date, parents deliver babies for advanced treatment using their private cars, due to lack of a neonatal referral system and makes it difficult for many babies to survive;
• Continue providing and expanding free services of Women’s Health Resource Center so that more women have access to evidence-based information as well as extend the digital services of these centers which are proving to help mother deliver healthier babies;
• Expand our cervical cancer screening program in primary care centers and increase the number of women benefiting from free Pap-tests, while advocating on setting up the national cervical cancer screening program in Kosovo;
• Translate our research on birth characteristics in Kosovo into quality improvement programs and patient empowerment strategies towards improving the care delivered for mothers and children as well as addressing the national trend of Caesarean section rapid increase;
• Advocate for reproductive health services and rights through Coalition K10, a unified group of 10 stakeholders of the common goal;
• Bring you creative annual fundraising activities, such as, Cycle Kosovo for Children, Let’s Dance, Teshavesha, and Meet Us Halfway (Diaspora Event) where we can all together save the lives of mothers and children in Kosovo and continue to do good.

Your end-of-year gift today supports everything from Survanta medication delivery to complex cervical cancer screening, important neonatal transportation, the much-needed health resource centers and up to advocacy efforts on promoting qualitative healthcare as a right for Kosovo’s mothers and children!

Our team believes that every mother and child has a right to a healthy life, no matter where they live or what means they have. We believe that healthcare is a basic human right. And all our stakeholders work together to promote this right.

Our foundation is dedicated to the process of saving the lives of mothers and children in Kosovo, but we cannot do it without your support!

Give your end-of-year gift! Donate Now.

Thank you and warm wishes for the holiday season!