Since Djeneba Traore lost a close friend who died in childbirth in 2004, she has been trying to find a way to help reduce maternal mortality. Maternal mortality is a serious and difficult problem in many developing countries including Mali. We had a small budget provided by MaliWatch.

Djeneba’s family originally comes from San. Working with Aissata Traore, Ismael Thera and an association of students, we set up a blood bank in the maternity ward of hospital in San. We purchased and installed a refrigerator to hold healthy blood supply for women needing a transfusion during and after childbirth. The blood bank was inaugurated in 2009.