In January 2006, we made our first medical mission trip to the Northern Region of Sierra Leone. We witnessed an absence of any quality obstetric or gynecologic care as well as its devastating consequences: needless maternal and neonatal deaths from preventable causes, the world’s highest maternal and infant mortality rates, and women suffering from entirely reparable gynecologic disease.

Upon our return from that trip, we sought to create tangible change for the women in Sierra Leone by making women’s healthcare a priority. We formed our nonprofit organization, One World Women’s Health, partnered with Dr. Turay and Holy Spirit Hospital, and set concrete goals. The mission was to design, build, equip, supply and staff a Maternity Ward at Holy Spirit Hospital in Makeni.

After years of planning, fundraising, coordinating shipments of equipment and supplies, and several return visits, the Maternity Ward at Holy Spirit Hospital opened in September 2016. Top notch care has been available to women and their babies ever since. One World Women’s Health has provided continued support for the operations and staffing of the Maternity Ward throughout the past six years.

All of this was achieved due to your commitment and contributions to our efforts. We thank you sincerely for playing such a vital role in creating and sustaining our Maternity Ward. The enormous value of prioritizing women in Sierra Leone by making women’s healthcare a priority has indeed been demonstrated.

Our dream has been realized! Together we have built a sustainable institution that will continue to provide quality care to women in the Makeni region. We are thrilled to have achieved exactly what we set out to do and will therefore be phasing out and dissolving One World Women’s Health. Donations will no longer be accepted after June 30, 2023. Our Maternity Ward is now in the committed and capable hands of our dedicated partners with whom we have collaborated from its inception – the doctors, nurses, midwives, administrators, and support staff at Holy Spirit Hospital. This legacy will live on. 

We extend to you our heartfelt thanks for your generosity and compassion these past years and congratulate you on your role in making a lasting difference in the lives of the women in Sierra Leone.

With sincerest appreciation,

Nina Seigelstein, Founder of One World Women’s Health

Deborah Shuster, Board Member

Liz Stevenson, Board Member