Amma Birth Companions

Our office will be closed from December 25 until January 6. During this time, we’ll still be supporting clients and births, but all other services, including social media, will be paused. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported Amma this year—we’re so grateful for our wonderful community! Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic start to the new year. 💚✨ For urgent referrals, please call 0141 471 9799 and we’ll do our best to assist you.

What a year it’s been for Amma Birth Companions!💚 We’ve had so many wonderful moments together, filled with love, laughter, and growth. In 2024, we supported over 320 pregnant people and new parents, delivered 25+ pregnancy classes, welcomed 30 amazing new volunteers, and saw record participation in our Amma Family peer support programme. ✨ To close out the year, we hosted more than 40 mums and babies at our Amma Family holiday party. Seeing so many smiling faces reminded us of the beautiful community we’ve built together. From delicious food to, heartfelt speeches, dancing to, gifts, and the joy of our very own Mama Santa spreading cheer, it was a celebration of the spirit of love and togetherness that makes Amma feel ‘like family’.. 🎄✨ A special shout out goes to our amazing peer support volunteers, who worked so hard to make it all happen, bringing so much love and care to the occasion. ✨♥ A big thank you also goes to Al Gilani Foundation who provided us with the provided delicious food for the party. Thanks to becky duncan from open.aye who gifted her time to capture dozens of gorgeous family portraits that will no doubt be cherished forever. 💚✨ As we look back at 2024, we’re grateful for the wonderful parents who trusted us to walk alongside them, for the volunteers whose dedication knows no bounds, for the funders and donors who supported our work, and for the staff who worked tirelessly to make Amma Birth Companions a community of care. As we step into 2025, we are filled with hope and excitement for what lies ahead. Sending much love and the happiest of holidays from all of us at Amma! Here's to more beautiful moments in 2025! 💚💚

#NothingAboutUsWithoutUs…We are proud to be launching our long awaited NAUWU report highlighting maternity experiences of women of African and Caribbean heritage(WACH) in Scotland and specific recommendations to tackle maternal and newborn disparities. Our report is available for download now. https://lnkd.in/eZJ9x8Dz ✅ NAUWU is a community participatory initiative and partnership between KWISA and NHS Lothian Maternity Voices Partnership( funded by NHS Lothian Charity 💙) Our aim is to promote positive, safe and affirming pregnancies and births for WACH. ✅ Whilst birthing in Scotland is safe, Black women and our babies continue to endure significant disparities in maternal and newborn health. Yet our voices are excluded from policy making, research, design and delivery of maternity services. ✅ Our recommendations are informed by the collective lived and professional expertise and experience of women of African and Caribbean heritage in Scotland. #NAUWUmaternity #scotland #maternalhealthdisparities #Healthequity #Maternalhealth #Neonatalhealth #womenshealthplan #maternitysafety #publichealth #policy #advocacy jaki lambert Sir Gregor Smith Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists | RCOG Public Health Scotland Healthcare Improvement Scotland NHS Race & Health Observatory Laic Khalique Rakiya Suleiman Prof Habib Naqvi MBE Prof. Kevin Fenton CBE Professor Jason Leitch CBE Ranee Thakar Hassan Shehata Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE Dr Jenny Douglas Ms (Dr) Karen Joash Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas Maternity Engagement Action CIC Project Esperanza Black Professionals United Kingdom Nandi Simpson Prof. Bola Owolabi, MRCGP MFPH(Hon), FRSPH Pedro Delgado Minara Chowdhury Amali Lokugamage Amar Shah

When a baby dies before, during or shortly after birth, amid the devastation and grief, many parents are left with one question. Why did my baby die? Reviews and investigations into why a baby died are standard NHS procedure, yet often parents don’t know these are taking place or that they can ask their own questions about their care and why certain decisions were made. Our new film for parents aims to shed light on the review process, its purpose, and how parents can be involved. We’re here for you 🧡💙 Watch the full film ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gVGRTYZD This resource wouldn’t have been possible without the generous funding from the Scottish Government, and the contributions of Amma Birth Companions and Held In Our Hearts

“The confidential enquiry published today highlights clear issues about the lack of provision and use of interpreting services. This is a recurring issue - numerous reports have highlighted instances of avoidable harm in maternity services that are associated with language barriers.” - Rob Wilson, Head of Sands and Tommy's Joint Policy Unit. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gMhfWSzj 2 in 3 babies from this group could have been saved with better care. As part of MBRRACE UK, Sands strongly supports the recommendations to improve access to maternity services for migrant women and save more babies’ lives. [Image description: White text on navy background: Sands responds to the latest MBRRACE findings. #BabyLoss. Sands logo in top right corner]

At Amma Birth Companions, we’re privileged to support incredible parents from many cultures and backgrounds. This video showcases heartfelt holiday wishes and New Year greetings from our Amma Family members in their mother tongues, celebrating the beauty of diversity. ♥️✨   No matter where you’re from, we wish you peace, happiness, and hope for the year ahead.🫶🏼 Featured in video: Aemin Urdu Wishing a happy new year Damilola Yoruba Merry Christmas 🎄 Liz Otjiherero Wishing you a merry Christmas and happy 2025 BENEDICTA ISHAN Compliments of the season Francisca Aduhene Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year Ghanaian language called Twi My name is Fariba Wish to a merry Christmas Hawrami Otjiherero Amma family we wish you a wonderful Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year NamibiaI 🎄✨ Happy Holidays from all of us at Amma Birth Companions! ✨🎄

Our office will be closed from December 25 until January 6. During this time, we’ll still be supporting clients and births, but all other services, including social media, will be paused. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported Amma this year—we’re so grateful for our wonderful community! Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a fantastic start to the new year. 💚✨ For urgent referrals, please call 0141 471 9799 and we’ll do our best to assist you.

Alternative Advent Calendar - Day 24: Amma Family Portraits Amma Birth Companions is a charity like no other. They support people from migrant backgrounds and under-served communities during pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood. They also successfully advocate and campaign for systemic changes in tackling health inequalities. And, to many, they are "Like Family". My social enterprise, Open Aye, annually gifts free photo sessions to refugee supporting organisations. In 2024 Amma was one of the recipient organisations. Thanks to commissions from other paying clients, I was able to donate time to provide new and soon-to-be mums with family portraits. We photographed them just last week, at the Amma festive gathering. And tonight my santa duties include sending out the family portraits, as a Christmas present to them all. So - to all my clients in 2024 - thankyou for enabling this to happen! You have indirectly gifted to 50 families this Christmas! Merry Christmas to all! In whatever way you may (or dont!) celebrate this holiday, I hope you feel warmth, solidarity and hope. x

So proud to see this, a difficult read but essential that we understand the deep inequalities at work in Scotland. Particularly proud of our Amma Birth Companions board member Dr Isioma Okolo MBChB MPH DFSRH DTMH MRCOG and her incredible passion and commitment to prevent this inequality!

The latest MBRRACE-UK report highlights critical gaps in maternity care for newly arrived migrant women who don’t speak English. This reflects what we’ve long advocated for: the urgent need for consistent access to and effective use of high-quality interpreter services to make care safer for both birthing people and their babies.  We worked alongside Sands - baby loss charity to ensure the voices of women from migrant backgrounds were shared in response to the report 💚