The Millennium Development Goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality worldwide by 75 % between 1990 and 2015, unfortunately, could not be reached. Although progress has been made, in 2015 about 303.000 women worldwide died from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. This means 830 women died every day.

The coronavirus affects all of our lives. But in the poorest countries it will be devastating. Especially for women and girls, who will be on the frontlines of the response.

This is the first time ever, that we can achieve to deliver essential knowledge to every rural woman on this planet. No matter what language she speaks or if she can read or write. This is made possible by technology - and by your valuable contribution as a volunteer translator. With your help we can translate basic health knowledge and life skills into languages they have never been translated before. And we can help rural women to live a healthier and happier life.

This February we kicked off our latest project in the Masaya region of Nicaragua. Our partner organization for this project is Pro Mujer, one of the largest women's organizations in Latin America. This non-profit organization offers women financial inclusion, health and education programs. Since its foundation in 1990, Pro Mujer has reached more than 2 million women in the region.

"Musele - The Diarrhea Song" was recorded by French anthropologist Romain Duda as part of a project that is lead by the Order of Malta France with the goal to improve the health status of the Aka.

Without having access to even the simplest basic knowledge, facing their enormous day-to-day challenges is a losing game for women in rural areas in most developing countries. We can change that by simply providing them with vital information in an accessible way. Here are some examples showing how Audiopedia can help rural women live a life in health and dignity.

Our project has been recognised by experts of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as a successful model designed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Audiopedia has been featured on the Health Innovation Exchange as an innovation in health that has the potential for a large-scale impact towards reaching the SDG3 targets and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). 

Using the Audiopedia approach we are able to provide health education even to remote and marginalized populations. Take for example the Aka. They are a nomadic Mbenga pygmy people living as hunter-gatherers in the dense rainforests of the Western Congo Basin in Central Africa. The Aka people are vulnerable individually and as a community. They are geographically isolated, illiterate, have no written language and no access to social services. So how can we make sure that they can acquire vital health knowledge?

Afghanistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world - and this is especially true for women. Female literacy levels are on average 17%, with high variation, indicating a strong geographical and gender divide. Rates as low as 1.6% are found in two southern provinces of the country. Women continue to be the number one victims of the country’s 30 years of warfare.