Françoise Pierre, an Australian permaculturist and midwife, has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Tajikistan, Sudan, and Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Through her frontline experience, she witnessed an alarming number of preventable maternal and infant deaths in refugee settings.
One of her most urgent observations is that many of these deaths are linked not only to a lack of medical care but critically to poor maternal nutrition—particularly during the final trimester of pregnancy. She argues that in many cases, adequate nutrition is just as essential as access to antibiotics, if not more so, for ensuring the survival of both mothers and their babies.
This insight carries important implications for Permaculture for Refugees (P4R) and its ongoing work in refugee camps and settlements. It highlights the need to prioritise food gardens specifically designed to support young and pregnant women—those among the most vulnerable in displaced populations.
Moving forward, this should inspire the development of educational garden programs tailored to low-resource environments, focused on cultivating nutrient-dense foods that can directly improve maternal and infant health. Integrating these gardens into camp design is a powerful way to strengthen the resilience of mothers and their communities, offering not only vital nutrition but a pathway to empowerment, knowledge, and care for future generations.
By Rowe Morrow
Reference: Dietary Intake and Nutritional Status among Refugees in Host Countries: A Systematic Review https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9526844/
