This week I am traveling around Haiti reporting on global health issues that affect women and children.

In fact, I am writing this post in the back of an SUV with my fixer and translator headed south of Port-au-Prince to visit Social Good Moms’ partner, Midwives for Haiti.

In the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere there are still many challenges that persist in both maternal and child health in Haiti.

Midwives are critical to the lives of expectant mothers.

While malaria cases are relatively in check across the nation, there were 15 confirmed cases of Dengue fever in Deschappelles over the past two weeks—all children!Women still continue to overwhelmingly have their babies at home, which can cause problems with their health as well as with their newborns. There were two cases of fistula at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, whom I worked with yesterday.

While the hospital has reportedly increased OB-GYN clients, mothers still desire to deliver at home.That is why midwives are so critical to the lives of expectant mothers, as are matrones, or birth attendants, as they are called here.

Being in Haiti also serves as an advance trip for an upcoming global health reporting trip with a Social Good Mom to also report from the ground about our partners’ work. Other members have already traveled to India, South Africa, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I have always maintained that one of the cornerstones of Social Good Moms is to provide as many opportunities as possible for members to go, do, see, travel, and write!Follow @socialgoodmoms for more updates during the week from Haiti.

This post originally appeared on Mom Bloggers for Social Good, titled Reporting from Haiti this Week.