Born Into

On Season Two, Episode 8 of Every Pregnancy’s Born Into, this conversation examines what it means to be pregnant, give birth, and care for a newborn in Gaza amid bombardment, mass displacement, malnutrition, loss, overwhelmed hospitals, restricted medical supplies, and the killing of healthcare workers.

Hosted by Every Pregnancy CEO Isra Chaker, the episode features Palestinian-American emergency physician Dr. Thaer Ahmad, who has worked inside Gaza’s hospitals and witnessed firsthand the realities facing mothers, newborns, and Palestinian healthcare workers.

The conversation brings into focus women giving birth in tents, C-sections performed without anesthesia, neonatal units operating without electricity, newborns discharged into rubble, and healthcare workers continuing to provide care under extraordinary conditions.

At the center of the episode is a question fundamental to Every Pregnancy’s mission: how can pregnancy be made safer when the conditions mothers and babies depend on for survival and care are being stripped away?

They discuss:

• What pregnancy and childbirth look like in Gaza
• The impact of bombardment, displacement, malnutrition, and loss on mothers
• What happens to newborn care when hospitals lack essential resources
• The realities Palestinian healthcare workers are working through
• Why locally rooted care matters
• What mothers and babies in Gaza need most

Pregnancy does not stop in crisis. Mothers still go into labor. Babies are still born.

This episode of Born Into brings those realities into focus and asks what it truly takes to protect mothers and newborns when access to safe, essential care is severely disrupted.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Every Pregnancy.

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Maternal health is a crisis, but most people scroll past it. Yasar Ahmad built a million-person following in nine months by solving one problem for one specific audience. In this episode he shares how those same content principles can turn a cause into a movement: what to say, how to say it, and why repetition and clarity save lives when algorithms decide what the world sees.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Professor Hadiza Galandaci has spent decades watching Nigerian women die from postpartum haemorrhage, a condition we know how to treat. She chose research over clinical practice because the math demanded it. Her E-MOTIVE bundle reduced severe bleeding complications by 60%, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and was adopted by the WHO in six months flat. This is the story of a woman who refused to leave Kano, refused to accept the unacceptable, and changed the world from there.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Amber Rose Isaac died in childbirth in April 2020. For months, her deteriorating platelet levels went unaddressed. At the hospital, Bruce McIntyre was called "Mr. Baby Daddy" and denied access to his partner. In this episode, Bruce speaks about grief, about rage, about showing up. Since Amber's death he has testified before White House officials, helped pass New York's Grieving Families Act, secured a $5 million investment for the Bronx's first midwife-led birth centre, and helped over 86 families access free home births. Love built a movement.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Two Palestinian entrepreneurs, one who feeds a million labour workers a year through The Giving Family, one who bakes knafeh as a bridge between communities, both nearly lost themselves to grief and nearly lost their own lives to childbirth complications they couldn't have predicted. Fatti and Fatmah close the season with a conversation about legacy, about giving, and about what we're all born into and what we choose to leave behind. Both carry their mothers in everything they build.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Imad Alarnab had a restaurant empire in Damascus. In six days, the Syrian war took it all. He fled with nothing, cooked for 400 refugees on church steps in Calais, and watched pregnant women make impossible journeys across borders. He never stopped cooking. This episode is about what it means to witness the vulnerability of mothers in crisis, and how one man's grief for his homeland became generosity toward the world, raising £450,000 for charity before he'd even opened a restaurant.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Humza Yousaf on why governments must treat maternal health as a strategic investment, not an afterthought. From Scotland's Baby Box and Best Start Grants to raising his own taxes to fund them, a conversation about what political leadership grounded in faith, empathy, and equity actually looks like in practice.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Nadeen Ayoub made history as the first Miss Palestine at Miss Universe, then came home to a reality where Palestinian mothers give birth without clean water, without safe passage through checkpoints, without knowing if they'll survive. Nadeen refuses to let occupation define identity. This episode explores what it means to fight for every mother's dignity when your entire people are fighting for survival.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

Babies born too soon are often born invisible to health systems, policy, and public concern.

Born prematurely herself, Doris Mollel is the founder of the Doris Mollel Foundation and has made it her life’s mission to support mothers and babies who begin their journey too soon. She discusses the stigma surrounding prematurity, her foundation’s neonatal care projects, and how better policy—and compassion—save lives.

Learn more about the Doris Mollel Foundation: https://www.dorismollelfoundation.org/

Follow the Doris Mollel Foundation on IG: https://www.instagram.com/dorismollelfoundation/

Follow Doris Mollel on IG: https://www.instagram.com/dorismollel/

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.

When doctors are few and time is everything, predicting risk can mean the difference between life and death.

Dr. Aqil Jaigirdar, founder of the Maternal Aid Association (MAA Global), shares how his team is building digital tools—like Gravida—to predict and prevent complications during pregnancy. From tackling limited doctor-to-patient ratios to using AI and community networks, he outlines a pragmatic path toward safer births across Bangladesh and beyond.

Learn more about MAA Global here: https://maaglobal.com/

Follow MAA Global on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/maaglobal_/

Support Every Pregnancy:

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Disclaimer: The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts or producers.