Train
a Village Midwife for £68.75!
Maternal mortality is
one of the highest in the world in Mali, and in our area
many women and babies die from childbirth complications.
The
primary causes are long and difficult childbirth due to
80% of women suffering from anaemia and malnutrition;
malaria, tetanus and childbirth fever are further causes.
These things can be prevented by simple, low cost measures.
Even in our area, nutritious foods such as haricot beans,
sesame, dried fish and oily nuts are often available.
Our courses cover training in nutrition, pre and post-natal
care, hygiene, recognition of complicated births and when
a woman needs to be evacuated to a health centre, child
health, preparation of foods for malnourished children,
prevention of common illnesses, access to family planning
for child-spacing and to reduce pregnancies in very young
wives or older women, and many aspects of women and children’s
health. The training is for a 2-4 year period.
One of our training staff, Rhoda
Dolo, at the maternity centre in Tireli. Rhoda was formerly
one of our trainee village birth attendants
We have taken on a fourth
qualified Midwife, Mariama Kodio, to extend our training
to new areas and 169 new Village Birth Attendants have
begun training in 57 further villages. We have trained
883 Birth Attendants to ‘diploma’ level in
the last decade, and built two maternity Centres which
have become part of the Mali Health Service. The basic
training and facilities have led to a much-improved diet
for pregnant mothers; far better growth in babies, who
were formerly still tiny at 2 years old; greatly improved
hygiene and midwifery practice, and dramatically safer
births.
The training is so popular
that we have a very long waiting list from villages in
all the surrounding area, so please help us to develop
this work further. The huge difference this makes is very
inexpensive.
Help us to buy Midwifery
Kits for £30!
A simple kit containing
a bowl, soap, rubber gloves, antiseptic eye ointment,
disinfectant, a plastic sheet, and a paraffin lamp so
that women do not have to give birth in the dark, can
make a big difference to women’s safety.
