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Women’s Voices from Ethiopia

8 March 2022 – Today, on International Women’s Day, HMHB is pleased to release the first in a series of films on ‘Women’s Voices’.

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This film tells the story of Agurash from Habru, Ethiopia, a woman in the third trimester of her pregnancy. She shares her challenges in accessing healthy food and the nutrition services she needs for herself and her unborn child. Millions of women like Agurash are at a high risk of malnutrition because safe and healthy food is unavailable or inaccessible to them. Moreover, due to inequity in their households and socio-cultural norms, these women put the needs of their families first and eat last and less nutritious food, often surviving on leftovers. While it may be difficult to address all their problems, nutrition interventions like prenatal micronutrient supplements can help improve their nutrition status and help their newborns thrive.

The purpose of these films is to capture the lived experience of women in low- and middle-income countries and share them with a wider global audience to sensitize them to the struggles of these women. These films are an important component of the Consortium’s advocacy efforts towards accelerating the adoption of multiple micronutrient supplements during pregnancy to improve maternal nutrition. Two more films of women from India are expected to be released in the coming weeks.