Grace Kodindo facts for kids

Grace Kodindo (born 1960) is a doctor from Chad. She is an obstetrician, which means she specializes in helping women during pregnancy and childbirth. Dr. Kodindo has worked very hard to make healthcare better for mothers and babies. She has helped not only in Chad but also in many other countries around the world.

Her important work has been shown in two BBC documentaries. These films are called Dead Mums Don't Cry (2005) and Grace Under Fire (2009). They highlight her efforts to save the lives of pregnant women and new mothers.

Early Life and School

Grace Kodindo was born in Doba, a town in southern Chad, in 1960. Her father was a government official. Grace and her brothers and sisters all went to school.

After finishing high school in N'Djamena, she received a special scholarship from the Canadian government. This allowed her to study medicine at the Université de Montréal in Canada.

Helping Mothers and Babies

When Grace Kodindo returned to Chad, she got married and had two sons. In the mid-1980s, she spent four years in Sudan. There, she trained to become a gynaecologist, a doctor who specializes in women's health.

In 1990, with help from the French government, Dr. Kodindo started working to lower the number of babies dying in Chad. At that time, Chad had one of the highest rates of babies dying during or after birth. Even after the funding ended, she kept working in hospitals that had very few supplies. People in Europe and North America noticed her amazing dedication.

Besides her medical work, Dr. Kodindo also taught medical students at the University of N'Djamena. She worked with another Chadian doctor, Mariam Brahim, from 1997 to 2006. They helped create a program to teach people across the country about children's health.

Awards and Global Impact

Because of her important work, Grace Kodindo received the Chad Medal of Honour in 1997. In 2000, she also won the FIGO/Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Distinguished Community Service Award. This award recognized her efforts in providing emergency care for mothers.

She also built a strong connection with Columbia University in the United States. She even taught at their Mailman School of Public Health.

In 2005, the BBC made the documentary Dead Mums Don't Cry. This film showed Dr. Kodindo's work to reduce the number of women in Africa who died during pregnancy or childbirth. At that time, about 9% of pregnant women in Chad faced the risk of dying. The film was shown widely and helped create a non-profit group called "Hope for Grace Kodindo." This group raises money to fund health programs for women in poor African countries.

Thanks to this funding, Dr. Kodindo shared some great news in May 2008 with the European Parliament. She reported that in Chad's largest maternity hospital, deaths during childbirth had dropped a lot. They went from 14% down to 2.3%. Deaths during pregnancy also decreased from 23% to 7.3%.

Her work gained more attention, and she was invited to join the RAISE initiative. This project was started by Columbia University and Marie Stopes International to improve reproductive health.

In 2009, Dr. Kodindo worked on a program in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This led to another BBC documentary called Grace Under Fire. The film showed how hard it was for women to give birth in a country affected by war. Dr. Kodindo said, "The biggest victims of this conflict are civilians – not the fighters. And the women and children suffer the most." That same year, the Danish Government gave her the Millennium Development Goal Torch. This award recognized her efforts to provide healthcare for women around the world.

See also

In Spanish: Grace Kodindo para niños