News & Articles

December 2021 ‘TIS THE SEASON FOR GIVINGSAVE THE MOTHER, SAVE THE WORLD Dear Supporters,   A note to thank-you all for your wonderful support over the past year. Together we have made safe birth, maternal healthcare and family planning a possibility for many...

On Radio National on Monday morning listen to Valerie with Indira Naidoo discussing her years in Ethiopia and the devastation being caused by the current Civil War. 

Former NSW nurse Valerie Browning AM has vowed to take care of “one million people suffering beyond belief” in a bloody conflict showing no sign of slowing down. A 71-year-old Australian nurse has vowed to remain “while there is breath in my body” on the frontline of...

Valerie Browning on RN Breakfast with Fran Kelly Ethiopia's 10 month conflict in Tigray continues to worsen, as the Tigray People's Liberation Front and its allies advance towards the capital, Addis Ababa. But some of the fiercest fighting is also taking place in Afar...

October 15 is International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day observed for pregnancy loss and infant death, which includes miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, and the death of a newborn. Pregnancy loss is defined differently around the world, but in Australia...

Mille - Afar, Ethiopia - “When I had fistula, I never thought I would be able to have a normal life anymore or even get pregnant again,” said 32-week pregnant Fatuma Hamad at the Barbara May Maternity Hospital in Afar Region.  Fatuma’s first delivery changed her life...

On September 23, 80 guests joined BMF Director, Richard Browning, BMF Ambassador Dr Geoff Kelsey and great friend of the Foundation’s, Margaret Hounslow, at Customs House in Brisbane to meet Dr Andrew Browning and hear about the maternal health and fistula repair work...

The Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid (Anglican Aid), together with the Barbara May Foundation (BMF) has announced a fundraising partnership which raises money towards better outcomes for pregnant women and mothers in sub-Saharan Africa. [button...

It seems extraordinary that 2021 marks two decades since Catherine Hamlin’s book The Hospital by the River was published, introducing millions in the West to the distressing realities of obstetric fistula. The author of A Doctor in Africa, Andrew Browning, has...

Double your donation power! * Update 29/7/21: We have now reached the value of $10,000, donation matching has now been extended to $15,000. The amount total amount of $30,000 will fund 150 safe births and 75 fistula repair operations. A wonderful friend of the...

A word from Jennah-Louise about this episode featuring Dr Browning: "Hello beautiful people. On today’s podcast we have the compassionate and committed Dr Andrew Browning. Andrew has spent 17 years of his life working in countries such as Ethiopia, Sierra Leone,...

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER – OR ARE WE? End of Financial Year Appeal For 18 months now the world has struggled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been lucky in Australia, as an island nation, we have been protected from many of the collateral issues....

Dr Andrew Browning’s memoir ‘A Doctor in Africa’ has been released by Pan Macmillan and is receiving wonderful reviews! With the preface by HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, and foreword by Her Excellency, Linda Hurley, Andrew’s book is an inspiring story of his...

Andrew Browning  is an Australian doctor – an  obstetrician and gynaecologist  - who has become world renowned for his work in Africa, particularly helping  women suffering with obstetric fistula in Africa. Before he completed  his medical degree in Australia, he’d...

“As a junior doctor I went to Ethiopia to work with my aunt in the desert area, and we were just wandering around the desert with camels, treating people under trees and shrubs and things in 50-degree heat … You’d have to sleep with a guard with a gun because the...

Dr Andrew Browning (left) and co-author Patrick Kennedy at the Sydney Opera House fund raising launch. Picture: David Oblati READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Before the COVID emergency, Valerie welcomed US award-winning author and freelance photographer Michael Benanav to the Barbara May Maternity Hospital in Mille, Ethiopia, for three weeks. In addition to his books, Michael writes and/or shoots for The New York Times,...