mothers2mothers is an international

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

dedicated to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV by providing education and support for pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV. Founded in 2001, the organisation currently works in over 400 sites in seven countries in

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and employs over a 1000 women living with HIV.

History

mothers2mothers was founded by Mitchell Besser at

Groote Schuur Hospital Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human-to-huma ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, in 2001. In January 2000 Besser moved to Cape Town, South Africa as a member of the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and as a consultant for the clinical roll-out of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services at Groote Schuur Hospital. While working at Groote Schuur, Besser realised that even when PMTCT medical treatment was available, it was often less than effective because of social, emotional and psychological barriers to success. To help break through those barriers, Besser identified South Africa's HIV-positive mothers as a "valuable, under-utilized resource." Besser enlisted new mothers living openly with HIV/AIDS who, as Mentor Mothers, began to connect with and educate their pregnant peers about the importance of PMTCT services, disclosing their status to loved ones, and living positive lives. The result of these efforts is mothers2mothers today. In recent years, as the programme has expanded internationally, the organisation has taken on the name mothers2mothers + ountry X e.g. mothers2mothers South Africa and mothers2mothers Kenya. However, worldwide and in the press, the organisation as a whole is known as mothers2mothers.

Results

The mothers2mothers program currently operates in over 400 sites in the following countries: *

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northe ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

mothers2mothers employs over 1000 women living with HIV. Since 2001, mothers2mothers has enrolled over 1,000,000 HIV-positive pregnant women and new-mothers and logged nearly three million unique client interactions. At least one source claims that in 2010, mothers2mothers enrolled approximately 300,000 unique HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers into its program. However, a recent investigation by

GiveWell GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percentag ...

has led that organisation to question the way mothers2mothers counts its clients.

Awards and recognition

* 2006 Global Women's Health Award from the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

of Yeshiva University in New York * 2006 Ambassadors of Caring Award * 2007 Platinum Award from
Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre
(South Africa) for outstanding innovations that reduce poverty and address key developmental issues of national concern * 2007 mothers2mothers is selected as one of the top 100 NGOs in the world (and the only African based organisation) for public private partnerships, in a study conducted for the UN and published in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' * 2008 Dr Mitch Besser is awarded the

Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the President of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on N ...

* 2008 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship * 2009

Schwab Foundation The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a Swiss not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 that provides platforms at the country, regional and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneu ...

Africa Regional Social Entrepreneur * 2010

Global Health Council The Global Health Council is a United States-based non-profit leading networking organization "supporting and connecting advocates, implementers and stakeholders around global health priorities worldwide". The Council is the world's largest membe ...

's Best Practices in Global Health Award

Funding

Foundation funding

mothers2mothers has received funding from the Skoll Foundation,

Mulago Foundation The Mulago Foundation is a private foundation focused on high impact philanthropy: investing in charities and philanthropic opportunities that have the highest impact. The foundation was originally envisioned by Rainer Arnhold, a San Francisco pe ...

Jasmine Social Investments Jasmine Social Investments is a New Zealand-based private foundation started by the entrepreneur Sam Morgan in 2006 following the sale of his company Trade Me to Fairfax Media. Similar resources * Acumen Fund * Bill and Melinda Gates Foundatio ...

,{{cite web, url=http://jasmine.org.nz/who-we-fund/, title = Who We Fund (click mothers2mothers for more details), publisher =

, accessdate = 2012-08-14 and other foundations.

References

2001 establishments in South Africa HIV/AIDS organizations Medical and health organisations based in South Africa International organisations based in South Africa Organisations based in Cape Town Charities based in South Africa Foreign charities operating in Kenya Foreign charities operating in Lesotho Foreign charities operating in Malawi Foreign charities operating in Eswatini Foreign charities operating in Uganda Foreign charities operating in Tanzania 501(c)(3) organizations