Submit Photographs and Stories to Spotlight Maternal Health

In late September, PATH will be hosting a reception in New York to feature the specific ways that medicines and other supplies bring about improvements in maternal health. Attendants will likely represent nongovernment organizations, UN agencies, the UN Commission on Life-saving Commodities for Women and Children, Clinton Global Initiative, GBC Health’s Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative, and other groups.They plan to display large, museum-quality photographs and produce a postcard book to help the audience connect emotionally with the issue and the plight of women in low-resource settings.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY
PATH would like to invite its partners to contribute photographs and stories for inclusion in this project. It will be a low-cost, effective way to showcase your organization’s efforts toward improving access to maternal health supplies worldwide.

Accompanying each photograph will be a story of the individual(s) featured. Some photographs and stories may also be included in the event invitation and social media engagement for a limited time before and after the event.

Each submitting organization’s name and logo will appear in the photography exhibit and postcard book. Where required, they will also include a photographer credit. Partners whose contributions are selected will have an opportunity to approve the photographs and stories before publication.

Partners also will be encouraged to stand by their photograph(s) at the event to personally tell the story of the women represented and highlight their work in the featured country as attendees travel through the venue (think museum docent).

OUR RESPONSIBILITY
PATH will select the photographs and stories as well as pay for all expenses associated with enlarging, printing, framing, displaying, and distributing them.

SUBMISSION PREFERENCES
To best highlight the issue and your organization’s work, PATH prefers to receive:

Museum-quality photographs of pregnant women, mothers, midwives, and skilled birth attendants in low-resource settings that are:
•    owned and/or copy-righted by your organization;
•    professional-level quality in composition and lighting;
•    high-resolution (300 dpi), digital images in .jpg or .gif format;
•    from a developing country where women regularly die during pregnancy or childbirth; and
•    portraits of women in their natural environment. Documentary and action photography styles will be accepted.

A personal story of the individual(s) featured in the photograph, including their name, location, and details of their experience in less than 100 words. The best stories will showcase how maternal health medicines and/or other supplies:
•    kept a woman alive and healthy during and after pregnancy;
•    gave a woman a reason to seek out medical assistance or go to a medical facility; or
•    provided a reason to train health care workers and/or skilled birth attendants.

Stories about challenges are also useful. Profiles could include:
•    A family that was left motherless because maternal health supplies were not available;
•     A woman who had to give birth at home or facility without maternal health supplies;
•    A woman who had to purchase her own maternal health supplies from a pharmacy; or
•    A healthcare worker who could not deliver maternal health supplies because of poor roads, weather, or supply chain issues.

To submit photographs and stories or ask questions about the project, please email Abi Weaver at PATH (aweaver@path.org). All photographs and stories are needed by June 30, 2012.