Monrovia, Liberia

Kumba stands in the doorway of her home in one of the most dangerous places in the world to be pregnant, due to a protracted civil war that damaged Liberia’s health infrastructure. There are only 400 trained midwives in a country with a population of 3.5 million. Women in Liberia share very little information about their pregnancy with others, as a way to protect themselves from evil spirits or spells. Many superstitions surround pregnancy, including avoiding the ingestion of sheep meat, which is believed to cause a breech baby. A mother’s chance of dying in childbirth are 1 in 20, placing Liberia at 144 in the Mother’s Index.