Adolescent pregnancy is a global public health concern: in 2022, about 13% of girls and young women gave birth before the age of 18.

Compared with women in their early 20s, adolescents are more susceptible to maternal deaths. Pregnancy-related complications are among the leading causes of death among Africa’s adolescent girls.

Babies born to adolescent mothers in low- to middle-income countries also face an increased risk of neonatal deaths, and pre-term and underweight birth.

Social Good Moms ContributorFebruary 2, 2024February 4, 2024Leave a comment

Blog, featured, Maternal Health, Maternal Health in the US, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, Reproductive Health

Study Shows Increase in Maternal Mortality by Race and Ethnicity Over Last 20 Years

Another recent study, Trends in State-Level Maternal Mortality by Racial and Ethnic Group in the United States published in JAMA, has provided data showing that maternal health outcomes in the United States are worsening despite state and national interventions to decrease maternal mortality.

Jennifer JamesJuly 6, 2023July 6, 2023Leave a comment

Africa, Agriculture, Blog, Charity, Economic Empowerment, featured, Gender Equality, nonprofits, Poverty, Products With a Purpose

Nonprofit Works to Eradicate Poverty Through Business, Not Charity

I have had the pleasure of reporting from low-income countries in east Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean many times and have seen a multitude of poverty eradication efforts from organizations that are created by social entrepreneurs to those that are funded by foundations, corporations and countries’ developmental aid. No matter the organizations’ efforts, there are key poverty eradication tenets they all subscribe to: community buy-in (financial inclusion), women-based business opportunities, educational programs, and increased access to food, clean water and quality health care. When all of these aspects are combined they tend to gradually reduce community and familial poverty.

Jennifer JamesNovember 15, 2022November 16, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, child health, Children, featured, kenya, mHealth

How health workers in Kibera are assessing sick children using a new digital health tool

By Maryanne W. Waweru l maryanne@mummytales.com

Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa. After two days of nursing her two-year-old daughter at home, an anxious Maximilla Kangahi made her way to a clinic in her neighbourhood for help.

At the health facility, Maximilla was received by Waida Kasaya, clinical officer at the Beyond Zero clinic in Karanja, one of Kibera’s 18 villages. Located in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, Kibera is the country’s largest urban slum area with the highest density of any settlement in the country, with an estimated population of 250,000 (UNHabitat).

maryannewaweruNovember 2, 2022November 2, 2022Leave a comment

featured, Gender Equality, Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations, Women and Girls

How the U.S. promotes gender equality around the world

UNESCO recognizes October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child to promote girls’ empowerment and human rights. Above, girls attend a class in Kolkata, India, February 11. (© Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto/Getty Images)

The United States works with international partners to advance gender equity and equality around the world.

Speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Katrina Fotovat, senior official of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, said supporting women’s economic empowerment, peace and security, and addressing gender-based violence are essential to safe societies.

Social Good Moms ContributorOctober 13, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, Covid, featured, Frontline Health Workers, kenya

Saving lives with medical oxygen in Kenya

The U.S. helped train nurse Sandra Karimi and other health care workers in Kenya to provide therapeutic oxygen. Above, Karimi works at Wangige Hospital in Kenya October 27, 2021. (USAID/Lameck Ododo)

For Sandra Karimi, a nurse at Wangige Hospital in Kenya, treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic felt like working in a war zone.

When she first encountered COVID-19 patients gasping for air, she froze. “I was scared, honestly,” says Karimi, who works in Kiambu County, Kenya. “We were all scared.”

Social Good Moms ContributorSeptember 13, 2022September 13, 2022Leave a comment

Blog, Empowerment, featured, Products With a Purpose, SDGs, Women, Women's Rights

3 Teas and Coffee Brands That Support Women

With all that is going on in the world, helping women through our everyday consumer actions is a way we can make a difference in their lives. While we can’t all take to the streets in protest or write impassioned letters to our senators or even donate to a cause every month, we can divert the money we spend to companies that support the causes we care most about. It’s called conscious consumerism and it’s on the rise. Consumers are increasingly voting with their dollars on products that make a social, economic, and environmental impact. Two of the most consumed products in the United States are tea and coffee giving consumers a real opportunity to make a difference based on where they buy. In fact, Americans drank a whopping 89 billion servings of tea in 2021, and on average Americans consume two to three cups of coffee per day. Sixty-six percent of Americans are coffee drinkers.

I was recently sent two tea brands and a coffee brand to try and all three support women which I am exceptionally happy about. Here’s what they’re all about.

Jennifer JamesAugust 18, 2022Leave a comment

Children, Education, featured, giving

Help Nordstrom Give 40,000 Back-to-School Shoes to Kids in Need

This year from August 11 through October 15, Nordstrom customers can get involved in its 12th annual Shoes That Fit campaign with a goal of raising $1 million and donating 40,000 shoes to kids in need. Each back-to-school season Nordstrom partners with Shoes That Fit and Nike to provide properly fitted athletic shoes to children in need in the communities it serves. This year’s campaign will mark 300,000 shoes donated since 2010.

Shoes are the most expensive item on kids’ back-to-school list. Every child wants to go back to school with shoes that are trendy and that fit. It gives them joy that most take for granted.

“Giving back to the community has been rooted in our 121-year history, since our beginnings as a shoe store. Helping to provide for the basic needs of children and families is core to who we are at Nordstrom. We’re excited to team up with Shoes That Fit and Nike to help kids start the school year feeling comfortable, confident and ready to learn.”
Jamie Nordstrom, chief stores officer at Nordstrom.

Jennifer JamesAugust 15, 2022August 15, 2022Leave a comment

featured, Reproductive Health, Women, Women and Girls, Women's Rights

Kansas Scores Victory for Abortion Rights

In the first statewide referendum after the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, Kansas voters overwhelmingly voted to protect abortion rights. Before yesterday’s primaries polls suggested an abortion ban would ultimately prevail in Republican-led Kansas. Still, even in some of the most conservative counties, “no” votes outpaced overall votes for Republican candidates.

With a massive primary voter turnout of 800,000 the “no votes” won by over 17% with only 96% of votes counted thus far.

Jennifer JamesAugust 3, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, Family Planning, featured, Reproductive Health

Why sexual and reproductive law for east African countries is being resisted

Anthony Idowu Ajayi, African Population and Health Research Center and Nicholas Okapu Etyang, African Population and Health Research Center

Six of the countries of the East African Community – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania – recently concluded public hearings on a new sexual and reproductive health bill. Proponents of the bill argue that it will improve access to sexual and reproductive health which, in turn, will improve other public health and development indicators such as maternal mortality and HIV infection rates. But the bill has faced fierce opposition since it was first tabled in 2017. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana spoke to researchers Anthony Ajayi and Nicholas Etyang to unpack what the bill covers and where the sticking points are

Social Good Moms ContributorJuly 20, 2022November 7, 2022Leave a comment

Anti-hate, Empowerment, featured, nonprofits

Holocaust Remembrance Day Marks Increase in Antisemitism in the United States

On this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoah, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) marks an all-time high in antisemitism in the United States. In its 2021 Audit of Antisemitism, 2717 incidents were recorded last year including assaults, vandalism, and harassment. 2021’s antisemitic incidents are up 34 percent. It is the highest number on record since the ADL began recording antisemitic incidents in 1979.

Antisemitic harassments were up 42 percent, vandalism by 14 percent, and assaults increased by 167 percent. Additionally, most of the incidents occurred in May 2021 and coincided with the military conflict between Isreal and Hamas. The previous highest month on record was November 2018 (300 incidents) which was the month after the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh, PA. The states with the highest number of incidents were New York (416), New Jersey (370), California (367), Florida (190), Michigan (112), and Texas (112). Combined, these states account for 58% of the total incidents.

Jennifer JamesApril 27, 2022April 27, 2022Leave a comment

Blog, featured, Products With a Purpose

From Boots to Baby Brands: 7 Gifts That Give Back With Every Purchase

There is never a bad time to give gifts especially when those gifts give back with every purchase. Here are seven products from boots to baby and kids’ brands and more that have an added component of social good. These companies give back to nonprofits that help kids and even honeybees.

ROMA BOOTS

Price: $12.99-$118

ROMA Boots was founded on fashion and philanthropy to give back to children in need. For every pair of boots sold, a new pair is donated to a child in need. Their mission is to bring impoverished children hope, love, and lasting change throughout the world through aid and education. Their next mission is to donate 100,000 boots to Ukrainian refugees in 2022 as part of their humanitarian initiative. Their next mission is to donate 100,000 boots to Ukrainian refugees in 2022 as part of their humanitarian initiative. Combining cutting-edge design to create durable rain boots, retail fashion merged with humanitarian efforts to build a charity-based brand that gives back. Available in men’s, women’s, and children’s sizes, they range from various styles and fun patterns fit for everyone. Let’s empower impoverished children worldwide to break out of the cycle of poverty and contribute their gifts and talents to society.

Social Good Moms ContributorMarch 23, 2022Leave a comment

Blog, featured, Reproductive Health, Women, Women's Rights

Idaho Lawmakers Send Texas Copycat 6-Week Abortion Ban to Governor’s Desk

Women, pregnant people, and reproductive rights activists are reeling about the nation’s latest blow to abortion rights. Yesterday, Idaho became the first state to pass a copycat abortion ban that successfully became law in Texas last year. Now, the Idaho bill is on its way to the desk of Idaho governor, Brad Little, to officially become law.

Anti-abortion activists have seen several state legislative and court ruling successes for their cause of late. And this summer there are real concerns that the Supreme Court may effectively reverse Roe v. Wade as more states, upwards of 26, seek to also ban abortion and allow costly litigation against abortion providers. 21 states already have trigger bans meaning that if the Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade, abortion bans will automatically be in effect. States are starting to fall into place like dominoes in abortion bans. Kentucky Republicans advanced a copycat Mississippi abortion ban on abortions after 15 weeks and Florida also passed abortion bans after 15 weeks. The Idaho and Texas abortion bans are more punitive at six weeks. Since the bill passed in Texas, abortions dropped 60 percent.

Jennifer JamesMarch 15, 2022April 27, 2022Leave a comment

Blog, Europe, featured, Foriegn Aid

Donate to These 5 Organizations to Help Ukraine

As the Russian military continues to move to take over Ukraine’s largest cities many, some say as high as 870,000, are frantically heading for border countries or are holed up in bomb shelters or in their homes and apartments. Ukraine has said that 2000 civilians have already died since the Russian invasion and long lines at the grocery stores are more common as fears of food and water shortages persist. Sadly, many believe that this is the early stages of the war and that it could last for many months. It’s clear this is the beginning and not the end.

Ukrainians are going to need food, water, and medical supplies for the long haul. Here are five organizations that are already providing aid in Ukraine and across borders.

Jennifer JamesMarch 2, 2022Leave a comment

featured, Haiti, Haiti Reporting Trip, Human Rights

Thoughts on the Passing of Dr. Paul Farmer

When I decided to concentrate on global health in 2011 and started Social Good Moms I learned immediately about Dr. Paul Farmer and the nonprofit he co-founded, Partners in Health. It is absolutely impossible to miss the immense contributions he made to the disciplines of global health, health inequality, and human rights for others to admire and aspire to, including me. He is the reason I decided to go to Haiti on my own to see the work other NGOs and nonprofit hospitals were doing for Haiti’s poor.