DONATE
Make a difference today!
YOUR IMPACT
Current projects in East Africa
HER DIGNITY FUND
Every woman matters.
Providing lifesaving maternal healthcare & fistula repair in remote Africa
Around the world, approximately 800 women die every day from birth-related injuries such as fistula. More than half of these are in sub-Saharan Africa. The Barbara May Foundation funds projects that provide dignity and safety for underprivileged women in birth.
Established in 2009, the Barbara May Foundation (BMF) provides funding to Australian medical professionals Valerie Browning AM and Dr Andrew Browning AM initiating and managing projects in remote East Africa (Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Northern Uganda) that relieve the high incidence of death and extreme injury such as fistula in pregnancy and childbirth. They provide safety, dignity and hope. Maternal healthcare and medical services are provided at no cost, regardless of race or religion.
Projects supported in Africa
Barbara May Maternity Hospital, Ethiopia
Valerie Browning AM
Vision Maternity Care Hospital, Ethiopia
Dr Birhanu Menber
Kivulini Hospital Maternity Africa (MA), Tanzania
Dr Andrew Browning
Latest News & Articles
Tensa’s Faith-Filled Story
When Dr Browning AM was in South Sudan earlier this year, he met a fistula patient named Tensa. We...
New Opportunity to Join our Team
Pat’s Fistula Story: “God bless you”
Pat attended a fistula camp recently where Dr Andrew Browning AM and his team were able to operate...
Follow us on social media
Thanks to everyone who came to our event in Brisbane recently! It was wonderful to meet both long-term and new supporters.
If you missed out this time, make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter to hear about our next event (hint – we’re planning something special for November!)
https://barbaramayfoundation.com/events/
#philanthropy #maternalhealth #BarbaraMayFoundation #charityevent
Melkam Meskel!
Today our friends, colleagues, and communities in Ethiopia are celebrating Meskel — one of the country’s most important religious festivals. There will be colourful processions, traditional music, and the lighting of a large bonfire known as the `demera`.
To our Ethiopian staff and partners, we wish you a joyful and blessed Meskel. And to our supporters here in Australia, thank you for partnering with us to continue the important work supporting women in Ethiopia to give birth safely.
Today is Ethiopian New Year (Enkutash in Amharic). It’s an important day spent with family and friends, enjoying traditional cultural foods and coffee.
We want to wish all our colleagues, friends and patients in Ethiopia Melkam Addis Amet - a very Happy New Year!
#enkutatash #ethiopiannewyear #barbaramayfoundation
Last chance Brisbane! We’re coming to visit and we have a few tickets still available...but not for long!
5pm, Thursday 18 Sep...
💙 Meet likeminded colleagues
💙 Hear from Dr Andrew Browning AM, author of `A Doctor in Africa` and a global leading fistula surgeon
💙 Support an incredibly important cause while enjoying a drink or two in beautiful Brisbane City.
Reserve your spot: https://events.humanitix.com/meet-dr-andrew-browning-brisbane-2025 (link also in bio!)
P.S All proceeds from the event go towards supporting life-saving maternal healthcare in East Africa.
#brisbanemums #brisbaneevents #brisbaneqld #FistulaAwareness #barbaramayfoundation #authortalk #womenshealth #maternalhealth #charity #fundraisingevent #queensland
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there in our community!
Your support not only makes a difference for women and babies in East Africa, but for their families - their husbands and dads too 🥰
We wish you all a day filled with joy, good food, and, of course, family.
Women like Anyang, living with fistula, have been hidden for too long. This Women’s Health Week, help bring their stories into the light.
With your help, we will continue restoring the dignity of women like Anyang.
Give a gift today: link in bio
#womenshealthweek #maternalhealth #barbaramayfoundation #sdg3 #endfistula #bethechange #midwifery #birthstory #antenatal #maternity #womenshealth
Emergency surgery can save mums’ and babies’ lives. If you’ve been in this situation, you’ll know how vulnerable you are in that moment – and how much it matters to have skilled care providers alongside you.
For many mothers in East Africa, emergency care is often out of reach.
This Women’s Health Week, help us raise awareness of the need for safe, accessible maternal healthcare for all women.
👇Share your story in the comments below, or share ours to help us spread the word!
#womenshealthweek #maternalhealth #barbaramayfoundation #sdg3 #endfistula #bethechange #midwifery #birthstory #antenatal #maternity #womenshealth #nurses #nurselife #caesareanbirth
“Now she’s here, she can smile.”
Thank you to our donors and supporters for making Pat’s healing possible 🧡
#womenshealth #barbaramayfoundation #fistula #maternalhealth #fistulatreatment #transformation #womenshealthweek #healing #birthinjury
That’s not the end of the story…
💙Maternal healthcare saves lives.
💙Fistula surgeries restore dignity and hope.
No matter where they are in the world, we believe in helping women give birth safely.
Do you, too? If yes, then please share this post or comment below, to help us raise awareness this Women’s Health Week 🙏
.
.
.
#womenshealthweek #maternalhealth #barbaramayfoundation #sdg3 #endfistula #bethechange #midwifery #birthstory #antenatal #maternity #womenshealth #birthstory
Hands up if you’re grateful for skilled obstetricians, midwives, nurses, physios and gynaecologists? Or for being able to give birth in a hospital?🙋♀️
Women all over the world experience difficulties in childbirth. BUT not every mother has access to a hospital or skilled birth attendants. Not everyone gets professional help to deliver and recover.
Have you ever wondered what happens next?
Find out through the eyes of Hilda, a woman living in Tanzania, who leaked urine for ten years after getting into obstructed labour: (Link in Bio: Hilda`s Story)
#womenshealthweek #maternalhealth #barbaramayfoundation #sdg3 #endfistula #bethechange #midwifery #birthstory #antenatal #maternity #womenshealth #CaesareanSection #BirthTrauma #midwifelife #nurselife
It’s Women’s Health Week 🧡
Childbirth is one of the most important times in a woman’s life. It should be safe – yet every day, over 700 women die giving birth, and many more suffer preventable injuries like obstetric fistula.
Most deaths and injuries CAN be prevented. That’s why the work you make possible through our partner hospitals and fistula camps is so important.
👉 Help us spread the word by sharing and commenting our posts this Women’s Health Week.
Find out more: https://barbaramayfoundation.com/ (Link in bio)
#womenshealthweek #maternalhealth #barbaramayfoundation #sdg3 #endfistula #bethechange #midwifery #birthstory #antenatal #maternity #womenshealth
Less than 3 weeks to go! Thursday 18th Sep. Are you coming? 🤩
We’re excited to be visiting Brisbane in September for the first time in a number of years. We hope to see many of our QLD supporters there!
If you’re in Brisbane, please invite your friends and family, churches, and colleagues – we`re hoping to meet many new faces and spread the word about the importance of healing and preventing obstetric fistulas.
P.S Tickets available here: https://events.humanitix.com/meet-dr-andrew-browning-brisbane-2025