Maternal health · Nigeria · Established 2019
A safer path through pregnancy, birth and beyond.
Victoria’s Smile Foundation works with women, families and health systems in Nigeria to reduce preventable maternal risk—combining community education, individual care, emergency support and longer-term pathways.
Built from lived experience. Strengthened by community trust. Ready for evidence-led scale.
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Care that starts before the crisis.
CARE · EVIDENCE · SYSTEMS
The maternal-health gap
The risk is rarely one thing.
A missed appointment can begin with transport. A complication can worsen because information came too late. A safe delivery can become impossible when one hospital bill is beyond a family’s reach.
VSF intervenes across that chain—before pregnancy risk becomes a crisis, during the moments that demand care, and after birth when a family still needs support.
One connected model
Five pillars. One continuum of care.
From prevention and safe delivery to women’s and children’s prosperity, family resilience and long-term infrastructure.
Safe Births Initiative
Prevention, education and referral support in communities.
ExploreSmile Motherhood Programme
Individual care through pregnancy, birth and early postnatal life.
ExploreWomen’s Prosperity Network
Livelihood and resilience pathways for mothers beyond birth.
ExploreChildren’s Prosperity Network
Learning and opportunity for children in supported families.
ExploreVictoria House
A developing safe haven and maternal-support base in Akure.
ExploreImpact & evidence
We are building the proof for what comes next.
Six years of delivery have created a valuable base of programme, financial and field evidence. We are making the numbers clearer, the definitions stronger and the learning more useful to partners.
See the evidenceCredibility is not a bigger number. It is a number we can explain, evidence and learn from.
VSF’s approach to institutional growth
ONE STORY · ONE FAMILY · A WIDER SYSTEMA mother’s journey
Elizabeth needed more than a hospital payment.
After two pregnancy losses, severe malnutrition and physically demanding work, Elizabeth entered VSF’s care during her next pregnancy. The response combined food, medical bills, practical support and someone to walk with her through the fear.
“They took care of me, paid my medical bills and listened to all my fears.”
Her son’s birth in February 2022 became an early proof of what continuous, human-centred maternal support could make possible.
Read stories and field updatesCampaigns & special initiatives
Focused ideas that grow into lasting pathways.
Supporter leadership and programme learning create new ways to reach women and girls with care that fits their lives.
Created by Abe Jawando with VSF
20 Smiles for 20 Years
A personal milestone became maternal care for groups of 20 beneficiaries at a time.
Read the full story ↗Led by Louisa Ademola-Oresanya
Her Tomorrow Matters
A growing maternal-health, learning and opportunity pathway for pregnant and parenting girls aged 13–19.
Explore the initiative ↗Funding & partnerships
Help turn trusted delivery into stronger maternal-health systems.
We are seeking funders, research institutions, public-health partners and values-aligned organisations ready to help us scale prevention, strengthen evidence and protect more women through pregnancy and birth.
Explore funding prioritiesFrom the field
The work, as it moves.
Safe Births Initiative
Taking prevention closer to women in Akure North
The 2026 outreach cycle continued VSF’s community-based approach: practical maternal-health information, locally relevant conversations and clearer routes into care.
Miles for Mothers
A fifth year of walking for mothers
Supporters completed the ten-mile Stanmore to Bond Street walk, with a parallel walk in Sittingbourne, while fundraising continued for women they may never meet.
Institution building
Building the next layer of evidence and infrastructure
VSF is strengthening its data, research relationships and institutional case while continuing the phased development of Victoria House in Akure.
Every safe birth changes more than one life.