Letter From The Founder

Dear Friends,

My name is Sister Zita Iwuoha. I was born and raised in Nigeria. I am a nurse and a midwife with over twenty years of experience. I have practiced in different parts of Africa and Europe and I presently work as a public health nurse in Allegheny County in Pittsburgh here in the United States. I work with women in their first pregnancy providing health care assessments, education, mentoring and referrals.

I enjoy working and empowering people to heal and to be all that they are created to be. I am on fire with love for the world. My gift of healing came from my grandfather Paul Leweke who lived and served my people as a home doctor (Traditional Midwife). During his life time he delivered over two thousand babies in three decades. My grandfather was famous for his benevolent spirit especially to women. He travelled about thirty miles on his bicycle to different parts of the city and villages attending to pregnant women and also conducting deliveries. During his time, western medicine was not easily accessible in Nigeria and yet in spite of that, he experienced little or no infant and maternal mortality.

Today the story is different. Nigeria experiences the worst maternal and infant mortality ever in history. I visited home in 2015 and found out that my two cousins, Christiana age 28, and Chisom, age 25, both passed away recently during child birth in two government hospitals in Nigeria. They literarily bled to death.

In view of this tragedy, I have founded ZITA’S HEALTHY BEGINNINGS (ZHB) with the goal of constructing an efficient laboratory equipped maternity and health care center in Umuawuchi, Nigeria, so that pregnant mothers will get access to prenatal care and child care and so address and diminish this high maternal and infant mortality rate.

Thank you for your support!

Sister Zita Iwuoha, RN-BSN, CLC, Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP, student).