Founded in 2021 by midwife Ashu Martha Agbornyenty, For Mom and Baby Foundation brings life-saving maternal care to rural and conflict-affected communities in Cameroon, where over 500,000 people have been displaced and women often give birth far from any health facility.
The foundation’s approach is refreshingly human: before delivering health messages, they get communities dancing. “People tend to keep the messages better when you don’t go on a serious note,” Martha explains. Their work spans community engagement, health provider training, research, and advocacy; all grounded in the belief that every mother and baby deserves dignified care.
This April, they celebrate five years; marked not in a boardroom, but with the very communities they serve, including a midwives versus mothers football match. With partners like DeepRise and Echoing Green, and a team that has truly bought into the vision, For Mom and Baby Foundation is a powerful reminder that resilience, joy, and intentional care can save lives.
The Story Behind the Mission
Martha didn’t set out to run an organisation. She stumbled into midwifery after years of indecision, sat entrance exams for Medicine, Nursing, and Midwifery, and passed only the last. Two weeks into classes, she fell in love with it.
It was during an early internship that everything shifted. A woman arrived at the facility bleeding profusely, having suffered at home in a rural community for over a week. She survived, but lost her baby. Martha couldn’t let that go. She started writing illustrated booklets to help women recognise danger signs, then a blog, then realised the blog was doing a lot of talking and not enough acting. The foundation was born as the action arm of that blog.
When Care Saves a Life
One story that stays with Martha involves Midwife Florence, a health provider the foundation works closely with. The team had just delivered a rare medication used to treat postpartum haemorrhage to her facility. Days later, it saved a woman’s life who would otherwise not have made it.
“Her baby would have been motherless,” Martha recalls. “But now, thanks to the availability of that medication, her life and her baby’s has been saved.”
It’s not just the emergencies, though. The foundation walks with families from pre-pregnancy all the way through postpartum visits, and regularly sits with community leaders to understand what people actually need, not what outsiders assume.
What Five Years Have Taught Her
Believe in your work. Keep an open mind. Those are Martha’s two anchors. The first keeps the organisation alive; the second keeps it growing, whether that means embracing a new partner producing infant warmers, or listening hard when board members push back.
She’s also thinking about her team. “They’ve bought the vision, actually,” she says. Her hope isn’t just that they stay, it’s that they grow, and eventually carry that vision somewhere new.
A Word for Others in the Space
“We are dealing with life that births life,” Martha says of working in maternal health. “A mom has never been a mom to the baby she’s just had. They’re both new to where they are. So be kind. Be dignified. Be intentional.”
And don’t be silenced by people who shrink your work. Martha was told midwifery was only about receiving women in labour. She pushed back, redefined it, and built something that is saving lives across conflict zones. Stay resilient, she says. Results come; no matter how long it takes.
For Mom and Baby Foundation is a proud member of our network. To learn more about their work or support their mission, follow their journey on social media.
