In the year since Natascha McElhone's husband, Martin Kelly, a talented and charismatic plastic surgeon died, she's focused her energy on her family of three boys.

Bringing light and love into the lives of Theo, nine, Otis, six and Rex, one, born five months after his father's death, has of course been her priority.  

But the actress, mum, and genuinely lovely lady - who stars in US TV series Californication - has also found time to help other mothers living in a world a million miles away away from her life of privilege.

Recently back from Angola after a trip to see first hand the impact the tetanus disease has had on communities and how vaccines are making a dramatic difference, Natascha told the Daily Telegraph of how she ended up unwittingly acting as a midwife.

She was particularly moved by the experience in a labour ward of a recently established clinic, where she witnessed six women in labour with no pain relief and just one midwife between them.

"I noticed (one woman's) breathing had changed. I thought to myself that sounds like she's going into transition, the period before you start to push," she told the paper.

"A few moments later, I caught the girl's eye and she nodded towards her pelvis.

"I lifted up her blanket to make her more comfortable - and goodness, there was a new baby there."

Now there is a little girl somewhere in Matala, southern Angola named after a beautiful Hollywood actress.

The baby's exotic name is not the only legacy of Natascha's visit. 

Her trip served to launch the 2009 Pampers/UNICEF '1 pack = 1 vaccine' campaign to eliminate tetanus.

Speaking from the heart about the dreadful conditions in which mothers give birth without so much as a clean, sterilised knife to cut a newborn baby's umbilical cord, Natascha emphasised the need to educate communities and encourage them to adopt hygienic birthing practices. 

Having faced the pain and heartache of the death of her own husband when he was just 42, Natascha spoke openly about her admiration for the incredible strength shown by the women, many of whom had lost many of whom had lost several babies to tetanus.

"I don't think we met a single woman who hadn't witnessed the death of one of her children. I may have lost my husband, but I don't have the same challenges that these women face every day". 

During her time there the 37-year-old bonded with several of the mums, who showed her how to tie baby Rex on to her back in the traditional African way using a piece of cloth.

When she asked if her little one wouldn't fall off, they chuckled and for a moment the British actress and her new friends were united in both grief and laughter.   

For more information on the campaign against tetanus and how you can help, please visit the Pampers or UNICEF websites.