Dr. Admasu Kesete: Ethiopia Built an Army to Tackle Maternal Mortality. This Is How They Did It.
Oct 10 2017
By Dr. Admasu Kesete
When I joined the Ethiopian ministry of health in 2002, we were using a health system designed for other countries. Our tiny number of highly trained health providers was concentrated in big cities, far away from the 85% of our people who live in rural areas. This mismatch led to some of the worst child and maternal mortality statistics in the world.By Leah McLaren
At the Nyarugusu medical dispensary in north-west Tanzania, Eva Paulo, 23, is in her 36th hour of labour. She paces barefoot in circles around the dusty yard behind the delivery room, her narrow back hunched in pain. Apart from her belly she is a slim woman with an angular face, her hair scraped back into rows of tidy plaits. When a contraction grips her, Paulo leans hard into the nearest tree, shuts her eyes and breathes silently as the sweat beads off her forehead.Water Aid: A Matter of Birth and Death
Oct 06 2017
By Water Aid
The first mothers, with their tiny babies barely visible amid swathes of bright cloth, began arriving in the misty morning just after sunrise.Some came on foot. Others hung off the back of piky-piky (motorcycles), traveling up to two hours to reach the Mlali Health Centre, a clinic in rural Mvomero district in Morogoro region, at the foot of the picturesque Uluguru mountains.
By Vario Sérant
Delicate and petite, Nélia is 25 but looks like a teenager. She has already been pregnant three times and has endured more than her share of tragedy.She lives in Pichon, a remote community in Belle-Anse, where the nearest health center is a three-hour walk away. Like most women in Haiti, Nélia gave birth at home.