Scots tycoon Ann Gloag launches new pregancy charity for Africa

May 10 2008

BUS tycoon Ann Gloag yesterday launched a charity to help women in Africa through pregnancy and childbirth.

More than 100 women joined the Stagecoach chief at her Kinfauns Castle home in Perthshire to launch the Freedom From Fistula Foundation.

It was formed in response to the estimated two million women in Africa suffering from obstetric fistula, caused by obstructed childbirth.

Gloag's foundation aim to help the women receive healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as providing free surgeries to those injured during labour.

The foundation will also pay to train birth attendants.

Gloag said: "These women are condemned to a life of shame and isolation because they become incontinent due to their fistulas and are outcast by their families and communities."

The foundation was backed by PM Gordon Brown's wife Sarah, who said: "The Foundation brings hope to women who have been suffering in silence for far too long."