MaterCare:
A Gift for the Millennium
Dr.
Robert Walley moved from the UK to Newfoundland in 1973. When abortion
became legal in the UK in 1969, obstetricians and gynaecologists
who did not want to perform abortions either became unemployed or
left the country.
A professor
of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Memorial University in Newfoundland,
Dr. Walley is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons
of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
of Canada and England and has a Masters Degree in International
Health from Harvard University.
Because of
his interest in maternal mortality and morbidity, he has been working
in West Africa since 1981 and directed a Maternal Health Obstetric
Fistulae Program in Nigeria from 1989 to 1996 which was partially
funded by CIDA.
In his Encyclical
Evangelium Vitae , Pope John-Paul II issued an urgent appeal,
especially to Catholic health professionals, to do something extra
for life. In response to this challenge, in 1995, Dr. Walley and
a small group of international obstetricians/gynaecologists and
midwives, inspired by the message of the Gospel of Life, took a
"preferential option to care for mothers," and established MaterCare
International (MCI), an organization designed to "breathe life back
into the care of mothers and unborn babies."
MCI's mission
is to contribute to the reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity
rates and the elimination of abortion through new initiatives of
maternal service, training, and research in accordance with the
teaching of the Gospel of Life.
MaterCare
has received several awards: for Faith and Science from the International
Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC); for Gender
Equality from CIDA; and research awards from the Society of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists of Canada and from the Canadian Foundation for
Women's Health for post-partum haemorrhage research.
Dr. Walley
and his wife, Susan, live in Newfoundland and have seven children
and six grandchildren, one of whom passed away last year.
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