What We Do

Over 5000 women will give birth in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear over the coming year and our goal is a simple one; to see that as many mothers give birth safely and that their newborn children survive the first few precarious weeks of their lives.

A simple concept, but although rapid progress is being made and the Cambodian government has sound policies, a woman in Cambodia is 14* times more likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than one in a developed country - with newborn deaths nearly 7 times higher. The complications that cause deaths are the same throughout the world but the risks are lowest when people have access to good, affordable care from skilled health professionals.

"How to save lives is well known. The difficult part is to get it to happen everywhere, all the time. There are no quick fixes".

Touth Koeun, midwife and founder of MRKR

We work with midwives in 22 primary health facilities and with over 200 traditional birth attendants. MRKR mentors midwives and trains traditional birth attendants to support midwifery services rather than to compete with them. We continually encourage building and supporting the relationships that grow between them as the most effective way of ensuring that village women can safeguard their own health and access the services they need.

Through educating adolescents - both girls and boys – we are planning for the future. For each teen that learns about reproductive health there will be many more who are better prepared for parenthood through their peer network.

Helping local officials understand their community’s needs and rights means that they can communicate with provincial and national health departments confidently and effectively. And a supportive voice is all that is often needed to give them the confidence to take up their cause. We also provide opportunities for, often deskbound, provincial department staff to visit communities where they can see for themselves the impact that their efforts can make.

Over the following pages you can learn much more about our work and the impact that it is having. We thank you for your interest and if you would like more information about any aspect of our work or would like to help, please feel free to get in touch with koeun@mrkr.org or david@mrkr.org