Introduction

In the high Himalayan region, the mortality rate among new-born babies is reported to be as high as one in ten – twenty times greater than that of the UK.

The mortality rate for mothers around childbirth is one in two hundred – about a hundred times more than in the developed world.

Put another way, a hundred babies in every thousand do not survive to their first birthday – compared with five babies per thousand in the UK.

Much of this is caused by nothing more than a lack of understanding of some basic concepts of health and hygiene.

Midwifery With Altitude aims to help these communities conquer this problem by bringing them improved hygiene and a better understanding of health issues – both by teaching local people ourselves and also helping to establish a Nursing School, where local people can be trained to spread the knowledge back to their own villages.