About IAMANEH

D | F | E



	The organisation
	Administrative Headquarters
	Board of Directors
	Comittee of support
	Contact






IAMANEH Switzerland Aeschengraben 16 CH-4051 Basel Phone +41 61 205 60 80 Fax +41 61 271 79 00 info@iamaneh.ch Post office account 40-637178-8

The organisation

Founded in 1978, IAMANEH Switzerland belongs to an international network comprising more than 30 member organisations located within both the southern and northern hemispheres.

Safe pregnancy and birth as well as childcare during the first five years of life constitute the focus of our engagement in southern countries.

In 1977, the Genevan professor Hubert de Watteville, an internationally renowned gynaecologist and founder of FIGO (the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics), established the parent organisation Iamaneh International. Its mandate aimed to contribute to improving the health of every individual but, based on the knowledge that women are generally disadvantaged, action was focused upon finding ways to improve the health and well-being of woman and child from pregnancy through to a safe labour and delivery. Each child’s potential for physical and intellectual development depends primarily upon the health of its mother during pregnancy and upon good nutrition and appropriate care during its first years of life. Irreparable damage is caused if these conditions are not met. Unfortunately in the developing world the least favourable scenario is the norm rather than the exception.

Under the banner “If mothers are well, so are their children”, IAMANEH Switzerland offers support to activities aimed at improving the health of mothers and children. One of the primary conditions for considerably improving results in the social domain is the revalorisation of the role of the woman. This involves increasing women’s status in both the community and the family, as well ensuring women’s dignity and respect for their human rights. Activities are targeted to populations which are poor and disadvantaged, and to those pertaining to a religion or ideology that is unfavourable to women.

IAMANEH Switzerland primarily supports projects in countries where women and children’s health is particularly threatened because of, for example, poverty or war. Regions with high mother and child mortality rates are at the centre of our activities. Our principal areas of engagement are to be found in Mali, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Bosnia, Albania and Haiti.

IAMANEH Switzerland is neutral on both political and religious matters. IAMANEH Switzerland is a member of ZEWO (an independent Swiss foundation that monitors charitable acts): a guarantee of the correct and impartial use of monetary gifts for public action.