British Airways, mothers2mothers team up to give SA's children a flying start

Image via Give n Gain

mothers2mothers unlocks the power of African mothers to transform the health of families by serving as frontline health workers called "Mentor Mothers. These Mentor Mothers work at clinics, schools, churches and door-to-door in communities. They deliver vital health and education services while educating and supporting mothers to ensure their children get the best possible start in life.

As part of its Centenary year activity, British Airways is donating R100,000 to help kick start the Let’s Give Children a Flying Start campaign – a British Airways flagship charity partnership with Comic Relief, which was launched in 2010 with a focus on helping children and young people fulfil their potential.

Early childhood development programmes

"In our centenary year there seemed no better gift than to give a flying start to children who otherwise may have had to do without even the most basic educational toys," says Sue Petrie, British Airways trade commercial manager in South Africa.

British Airways has also invested £1m/R19m to support mothers2mothers expand their early childhood development programmes into two new sites in Pretoria and launch their work in a new country.

"This centenary year donation will be a welcome boost to our programmes across our home country of South Africa and especially at health facilities in Cape Town and Pretoria. Every additional donation from our friends at British Airways, its customers and the public will help to make a big difference to a child’s development," Frank Beadle de Palomo, mothers2mothers President and CEO

Over the past 18 years, mothers2mothers has created over 10,000 jobs for HIV-positive women, who have reached over 11 million women and children under two with life-changing health services. It has helped to almost end mother-to-child transmission of HIV for the past five years. In 2018 the rate of transmission among enrolled mothers was 1.3%, far below the 5% UNAIDS defines as "virtual elimination".

In 2017, 97% of children enrolled in its early childhood development programme reached all their developmental milestones by the age of one.

Donations can be made to provide learning-oriented toys to support children who are part of mothers2mothers’ early childhood development programmes across South Africa.