Written by: Dana Hesham Amin

“Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had and dealing with fears you never knew existed”. Motherhood is the natural state of unselfishness, tenderness, love, and kindness. Paying back the innumerable errands of motherhood will never be satisfied. Mothers are the universe’s main source of power; hence, everyone on planet earth should be giving much care and attention towards anything that adversely affects them. Postpartum Depression is a significant issue that powerfully affects mothers and that is deserved much attention and care. After giving birth, women experience a psychological state of discomfort and unease, and it goes far beyond this. This complex disorder can shatter mothers’ spirit, state of mind, and body. It can terminate their dreams of what they expected motherhood to be.

 

One in every seven women after giving birth gets diagnosed with Postpartum Depression (PPD), which is a psychological disorder that mothers suffer from after giving birth to a baby. PPD is composed of three different phases: Postpartum Blues (Also called Baby blues), which is the least severe phase, Postpartum Depression, which is the most significant phase, since it is more stark than the first phase and more common than the last one, and Postpartum Psychosis, which is the rarest phase. Postpartum Depression is a result of major hormonal changes, which is the drop in estrogen and progesterone hormones as soon as the woman gives birth, and is a result of several psychological reasons. Lack of emotional and social support for the mom when she gives birth is one of the main reasons of Postpartum Depression. Postpartum Depression is a worldwide known issue, however, it is given no care nor attention in the Arab world. Hence, we decided to come up with a campaign that tackles this issue in order to create awareness and educate people about Postpartum Depression, its phases, symptoms, causes, and treatment methods.

Campaign creators team with a gynecologist during one of their events

 

“Ma Ba3d Al Tase3” is a campaign that is conducted by 8 female students in the faculty of Mass Communication in Misr International University. “Ma Ba3d Al Tase3” campaign was implemented in May, which is the PPD awareness month worldwide. The campaign’s main aim is raising awareness and educating people about PPD. The campaign’s major targets are newly married males and females, who just gave birth, or are willing to. Additionally, the campaign aims to target the mothers’ surroundings (Her female parent, siblings, and friends). The campaign also aims to highlight the roles of the mothers’ surroundings in supporting her, by providing her with the needed care, assistance, and emotional support. It also aims at educating the mother about Postpartum Depression, so she gets enlightened enough to know what she’s going through and become capable of asking people for help whenever she feels she’s in need. We reach out our target audiences through several vehicles, starting from social media through our Facebook page @maba3daltase3 and YouTube Channel, to implementing seminars and other public relations tools in order to reach them directly.