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Dr. Grace Kodindo, Chadian OBGYN and assistant clinical professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, has fought to save lives in ill-equipped maternity wards in her native Chad in Central Africa for many years. While Dr. Kodindo has treated women suffering the effects of neglect, her experiences never prepared her for the real life stories of inhumanity, lack of critical reproductive health care, and sexual violence she hears from those caught up in the long running conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), featured in a recent BBC documentary Grace Under Fire.

Voted the 4th best BBC documentary of 2009 in an international online vote,
the heralded documentary follows Dr. Kodindo, a leading advocate for women’s reproductive health and rights, as she explores what help is available for the innocent people affected by the fighting in the DRC, described as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. Women in sub-Saharan Africa have a one in 13 lifetime chance of dying in pregnancy and childbirth.

“Where to even begin ending the suffering?” asks Dr. Kodindo after visiting clinics and meeting doctors, nurses, and survivors across the region. “By far the biggest casualties of this conflict are civilians – not the fighters. And the women and children suffer the most. Reproductive health care must be seen as a frontline priority – not something to think about only after the fighting is over.”

Her work has been honored previously by the international community and featured in the BBC documentary Dead Mums Don’t Cry. The film followed Dr. Kodindo’s work as the head of the primary maternity hospital in Chad in 2005, where she struggled to preserve women’s lives in the face of profound poverty, a dearth of supplies, and minimal government support.

Grace Under Fire was produced by TVE (Television Trust for the Environment) and is a collaborative effort of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organization, the Reproductive Health Access, Information and Services in Emergencies (RAISE) Initiative, Care International, and the International Rescue Committee. RAISE, managed by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Marie Stopes International, works to ensure reproductive health care in situations of conflict and disaster. Dr. Kodindo currently works as the Medical and Advocacy Advisor for the RAISE Initiative.