Dr Grace Kodindo was born in Chad and undertook her medical training in Canada. Once trained, Grace returned to Chad where she worked tirelessly for the well being of women and their babies. In 2005, Dr Grace was approached by the BBC to be a part of the PANORAMA programme “Dead Mums Don’t Cry” which brought her to the world’s attention. Initially Grace said no, but then realised that the women in her care could benefit from the world knowing how much her hospital lacked the basics which we in the West take for granted. The documentary followed Dr. Kodindo’s work as the head of the primary maternity hospital in Chad, where she struggled to preserve women’s lives in the face of profound poverty, a dearth of supplies and minimal government support.

Since the programme was aired, the pace of Dr Grace’s work for the health of women in the developing world has stepped up and she is now undertaking a role in New York as the Maternal Mortality Advisor for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia and South America, for the Reproductive Health Access, Information and Services in Emergencies (RAISE) Initiative. This organisation is managed by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Marie Stopes International and works to ensure reproductive health rights for women worldwide.

In May 2009, Dr Grace was awarded the Prestigious Millennium Development Goal Torch by Danish Government in recognition of her efforts to secure comprehensive reproductive health care for women worldwide. While in Europe, Grace also toured seven European cities, speaking at screenings of the BBC documentary “Dead Mums Don’t Cry.”

The quote from her now famous 2005 address to the United Nations reads “do the women in poor countries not have the same right to health and their sisters in rich countries” is what drives HFGK to continue saving the lives of women in the name of this incredibly inspirational woman.