Utah charity one of 24 in the country to vie for $1M grant in Facebook contest

SALT LAKE CITY — JPMorgan Chase is hoping its more than 2.8 million Facebook fans can help decide which national nonprofit charity deserves a $1 million award, and a Utah-based health services organization is in the running.

The Women's World Health Initiative, which focuses on improving the lives of mothers and their infants in developing areas of Senegal, West Africa, was selected as one of 25 finalists across the United States for Chase's American Giving Awards.

The group, which was founded in 2009, aims to establish sustainable health care systems amid the country's vulnerable populations, specifically impacting women of childbearing age, helping them to reduce the risks of having a baby.

"A woman shouldn't have to lose her life to bring another life into the world," said Dana Allison, WWHI executive director. She said 89 percent of the women in Senegal have issues with anemia, which leads to a significant amount of unnecessary blood loss during childbirth.

An average of 41 infants and five mothers die every day in the area, Allison said, because they lack the support systems "many of us take for granted."

More than half of women in the developing world deliver babies without the help of a nurse, midwife and doctor, or access to crucial medical care, according to World Health Organization statistics. In addition, the maternal mortality rate in the most populated areas of Senegal is 300 times greater than in the United States. Even more die in rural outskirts of the southwest African nation.

"Receiving even $125,000 would be an unbelievable opportunity to ensure the great work of Women's World Health Initiative continues," Allison said.

All of the work of the Salt Lake-based organization is performed by members of the Senegalese communities, and WWHI is teaching them processes and procedures to someday be able to take care of themselves.

In addition to health surveying and nutritional supplementation efforts, WWHI hopes educate women in the most disenfranchised areas of Africa about family planning, train midwives to be able to provide immediate and basic care, and train local health care givers to perform emergency obstetric surgeries.

"If something goes wrong, the nearest hospital is three hours away and most women die before they get there," Allison said.

Online voting for Chase's Community Giving grand prize of $1 million began Wednesday and votes will be collected for one week, until Oct. 5.