Begun in 1990, Shiphrah is named after the courageous midwife of the Moses story. As midwives we promote well being that poverty often denies to marginalized pregnant women and their unborn children. A pregnant woman dies every 2 hours from pregnancy and childbirth related causes while 1 newborn dies every 4 minutes in the Philippines. We began our work among the poor because we knew we could make a difference in those horrific figures. We have.

At Shiphrah we offer dignified, safe, and caring birth to marginalized women and their families who come from the many poor communities in our area. The majority of the families we serve have a daily income of less than $8 USD a day. Yearly there are more than 1500 women who participate in the wholistic maternal care of Shiphrah.

• Births: 500 + per year
• Prenatal exams: 150+ a week/600+ per month/7-8,000 per year
• Anywhere between 30 -60 new women entering the program every week
• 100-120 women participating in the Prepared Natural Childbirth and Motherhood classes every week. 600 women voluntarily finish all nine classes yearly.
• 118 women currently enrolled in our Reproductive Health Care program.

The development of midwives is important at Shiphrah. We have been officially recognized by two important midwifery groups located in the U.S. We are an approved "out-of-country" site for the National Association of Registered Midwives (NARM). Our midwives have also been accepted as official preceptors by the National College of Midwifery (NCM). Such recognition allows Shiphrah to receive interns from other countries for their practicum work and/or academic work if they are students with National College of Midwifery. Not only do we teach interns from other nations, we also support the development of traditional birth attendants. We are particularly eager about our work with Aeta midwives, partnering with a mission in Tarlac province.

Marsden Wagner, formerly of WHO writes, "Showing women - half of all people - that they are inferior and inadequate by taking away their power to give birth is a tragedy for all society. . . .respecting the woman as an important and valuable human being and making certain that the woman's experience while giving birth is fulfilling and empowering is not just a nice extra, it is absolutely essential as it makes the woman strong and therefore makes society strong". At Shiphrah that's what we believe. That's what we practice.