Liya Kebede: an Ethiopian supermodel with a big heart | LFK

Every minute a woman dies because of complications in giving birth to her child. »

In 2005, the magnificent Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede, aware of this situation, decided to launch her own Liya Kebede Foundation. Their mission is to save moms in Africa by promoting better access to maternity care. More specifically, their mission is to reduce maternal, neonatal and child mortality in Ethiopia and around the world. But also improve the flow of information and education for both mothers and midwives to further reduce maternal deaths.
Lya explains to HuffPost: 

 I started working as a maternal health advocate after becoming a mother myself … While I had the benefit of incredible support, I knew that millions of women at home in Ethiopia and the world had not done so.»

• Facebook : Liya Kebede foundation

With the launch of the Liya Kebede Foundation, she wanted to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by women in childbirth, but also to provide training and education to ensure safe births in Africa..

Liya Kebede Foundation is a non-profit foundation that funds awareness projects, support for low-cost technologies, community education programs, and training programs.

The focus is on training the next generation of health care workers in best practices in maternity care. In a health center with which the foundation works, Kebede said that hospital deliveries increased by 50% in 12 months.

Various actions carried out:

• The foundation provided support services for low-cost technologies, community education and training programs.
• They led the fight to encourage mothers to receive hospital deliveries, as the majority of women give birth alone at home, risking their lives in the event of complications.
• Liya Foundation has partnered with an Ethiopian doctors’ association to support a maternity clinic in Hawassa, Ethiopia, “said Kebede.
• With regular training and mentoring, the medical team has delivered more than 10,000 babies safely.
• Liya Kebede Foundation will help raise awareness and support its Stand Up for African Mothers campaign with the goal of training 15,000 midwives in several countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, South Africa and South Africa. Sudan and Uganda.

At the same time, in 2008, Liya launched a clothing line called LemLem, a fair trade clothing brand 100% made in Africa, which employs Ethiopian artisans and opens them to the global market. This business is useful because it gives work to families in Africa, who happens to take care of their children.