Maternal health charity prepares for Brexit uncertainty

As 31 October looms, not only is uncertainty about Brexit is affecting businesses across the UK but it is having an undeniable impact on the not-for-profit sector too. Maternity Worldwide is a Brighton-based charity which works in low-income countries to help women and girls access the high quality maternal health care they need to be able to give birth safely.

Maternity Worldwide Chair Dr Adrian Brown said:

‘The impact of Brexit is surprisingly far-reaching. The current economic uncertainty is making it increasingly harder for charities to survive, even small organisations such as ours with minimal overheads. There for extra considerations that we haven’t been able to plan for such as new data protection processes for when we process personal data from donors in the European Economic Area, which all takes extra time and money that we can ill afford.’

Maternity Worldwide relies on the generosity of its team of volunteers and interns, many of whom come from outside of the UK.

Maria Kold Ehlers, a Maternity Worldwide intern from Copenhagen, Denmark said:

‘I'm so happy that I was able to do my internship abroad with Maternity Worldwide. However, with Brexit coming up I'm not sure I'll be able to continue as I don't how it will affect my future possibilities for staying and working in the UK.’

Maternity Worldwide Chair Dr Adrian Brown added:

‘Maternity Worldwide works to ensure that every woman, regardless of where she lives, can give birth safely and without fear. Both in terms of time and money, it is hard to predict how much Brexit is going to cost our organisation and ultimately our beneficiaries.’