Less than 19 hours left for the public to vote and the heat is on for Azafady to win the Vodafone World of Difference competition.

Over the last 6 days almost 9000 members of the public have voted through Facebook. Azafady currently leads with 30% of the vote, but it is extremely close and more votes are desperately needed. If you would like to vote for Ailie Judd and Azafady please follow the link, (you will need to be logged into Facebook).

So what is it all for? Well if Azafady win this competition they will be able to set up a specialised HIV prevention programme with pregnant women in South East Madagascar. This project is the result of 5 previous research studies which highlighted the urgent need for a focused prevention project, which reflects the needs of this target group.

Conducting adequate prevention with young pregnant women involves reaching them before conception, during pregnancy and after birth.  In the case study below you can see the multiple issues involved which interlink HIV with other social factors such as poverty, education and access to services.

Photo: Ed Kashi www.edkashi.com

‘Lala was 16 when she got pregnant, her partner Joel was 18. They were thrilled and convinced they would be able to cope. Lala’s family were relieved as it would mean they would no longer have to provide for her. Lala had already left school and from being 7 months pregnant she stayed strictly at home, covered in layers of clothing to rest and stay warm, in adherence to Malagasy custom’.

‘During this time Joel tried to work to bring in money but was also distracted by other local girls. During her pregnancy Lala never went to a hospital or accessed the advice of a midwife. Instead she was convinced that the traditional healer knew best’.

‘During the birth, there were complications, the baby got stuck and the traditional healer, who hadn’t washed her hands, had to intervene. Lala’s baby was born a healthy 7lbs, but soon after the birth Lala began to get abdominal pains. She never went to hospital and within 10 days the family organised her burial.’

‘Joel was left responsible for the baby, so began looking for another family member who could breast feed the child. Joel was unable to find anyone and the child quickly deteriorated and within 2 weeks was buried next to his mother.’

Azafady’s HIV prevention project with pregnant women aims to increase access to education and services surrounding all aspects of women’s sexual and reproductive health, which will in turn reduce maternal and infant mortality and the transmission of HIV between mother and child.

Please take 30 seconds to support this cause by voting for Azafady to win the Vodafone World of Difference competition on Facebook, the poll closes Wednesday 28^th July 12pm – noon.

http://www.facebook.com/worldofdifference?ref=search#!/worldofdifference?v=app_20678178440&ref=search

This was the second guest post sent to us by Ailie Judd herself, we were so inspired by the work that she was doing in Madagascar that we have asked her to send us blog updates about her progress in the Vodafone: World Of Difference competition. As Ailie said there’s only 19 hours left for voting, so if you would like to support the cause; click on the above link and vote for Ailie.