Ehaleloo Koo Meme

Location: Okahandja, Rehoboth and Windhoek, Namibia

Young mothers learn from experienced mothers

Ehalelo Koo Meme literally means “hope for mothers” and is a follow up to the successful “Mothers Mothering Mothers to Be” project. The project focuses on education, including prevention, mental health support and the treatment of mothers. The new mothers learn from experienced mother. Thanks to this project, of the 150 pregnant women who participated, only one gave birth to a HIV baby after having participated in this programme for one year.

The project was such a success that Orange Babies, in collaboration with the Pharmaccess Foundation, another non-profit organisation, set up a follow up project. This "Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission" (PMTCT) programme has been expanded to assist 400 women and their babies each year in three different cities in Namibia in cooperation with location birthing clinics.

In addition, the mothers who come to Ehaleloo Koo Meme receive a food package every two weeks. They also received information related to basic hygiene and the advantages and disadvantages of breastfeeding and bottle feeding.

Just like in the previous programme, they receive powdered milk for 12 months, dispensed by the Milkbar, which helps to drastically reduced the risk of transmission. Only 1.5% of the babies tested positive for HIV after their mothers had participated in this programme.