We’re starting the year with good news! Amy Mbaye, an amazing MSI midwife in Senegal, has been named as one of the Guardian’s ‘Inspiring people in 2025’.
Amy provides contraception to women living in climate-affected communities – supporting their right to decide if and when to have children, even as so much around them feels uncertain.
The Guardian reporter, Kat Lay, met Amy when visiting MSI’s programme in Senegal. Here’s what she shared:
“Amy Mbaye is a midwife running a health post in Joal, a fishing town a few hours’ drive south of Dakar in Senegal. I met her when I went to see the work done by an MSI Reproductive Choices outreach team, taking contraception to the women who live there.
For thousands of local people, it is the only healthcare facility available. The women gathered for the contraceptive clinic knew it – and Mbaye – well. She had delivered a lot of their babies.
The town is getting poorer as fishing yields dwindle, driven by the climate crisis and industrial overfishing off the coast.
Amy told me the women of the town were warriors. I told her I thought she was one, too.”
Why this recognition matters
In communities where climate change is shrinking livelihoods and access to healthcare is limited, providers like Amy are often the only lifeline. By offering contraception with dignity and respect, she helps women reclaim agency over their bodies and their futures.
You can stand with heroes like Amy
Healthcare providers on the frontlines are changing lives every day – but they can’t do it alone. If you believe, like we do, that people deserve choice even in the toughest circumstances, please donate today.
Your support ensures MSI teams like Amy’s can keep reaching women with the care they need, when they need it most.
