Global Health Promise (GHP) collaborates with sex worker organizations and other NGOs on research to understand the most urgent needs of mothers who are trafficked or in sex work and their children. This research forms the basis of our programs to support these families. We have recognized the lack of awareness at the national and global level on the maternal health of these mothers and the health and social well-being of their children. Specifically, we are engaged in efforts to target the factors that produce the dire situations that these mothers and their children experience, through documenting their maternal health and the health of their children, including high incidence of death and mental health challenges. GHP turns our research into actionable programs and policies to improve the lives of these mothers and their children through community-based participatory research and practices. 

The global issue and impact of maternal health of mothers who are trafficked or in sex work include:

• The majority become pregnant 
• An estimated 80% are mothers
• During pregnancy, the majority of these women will experience significant barriers to accessing prenatal care
• In many communities around the world, these women experience discrimination and stigma when they seek maternal healthcare for safe deliveries, and deliver outside of medical facilities 
• Complications during and after delivery result in preventable deaths among many of these mothers and their children
• The deaths are a tragedy for both the mothers and their children who are subsequently orphaned

The global impact on children whose mothers are trafficked or in sex work include:

• Many of these children are denied access to the nutrition they need during infancy because their mothers must return to work and cannot breastfeed
• A large percentage of these children are physically and sexually abused, experience discrimination and stigma in the community, are forced into work at an early age, and are sexually exploited
• Due to poverty, many of these children do not have access to the same level of health care as other children and have higher risk of malnutrition and other preventable health problems
• The majority of these children experience barriers to education and discrimination at school