16/9/13
In rural parts of Africa child
birth is still a major killer among mothers and new born babies. For
generations in the unspoiled lands of Africa, children have been conceived the
same way which is natural and without help from anyone medically trained. Often,
mothers give birth to their children in the comfort of their homes but under
unfavorable conditions, (stress, laborious tasks they used to do, and
unsanitary surroundings). Due to the lack of knowledge in these rural
communities complications often arise. That major lack of knowledge in these developing
parts of the world create a large majority of the problems that mother’s face,
(unaware of status of HIV, not breast feeding after birth, and having too many
children). These problems too often lead to the death of mother or child, and
sometimes even both. Neither mother nor child should ever die from childbirth.
In 1987 AAH realized that far too
many mothers and children were dying due to complications arising in child
birth and that the lack of knowledge that the refugees had in the camps was the
root of the problem. AAH’s mission is better health and better livelihood, this
is why the Safe Motherhood Program was founded in 1987 to help educate the
general population of the settlement camps. This program, which is a branch of
the Health Department began holding open meetings for the communities to come and
attend. The meetings teach the safe practices that the mothers, families, and
communities should use when a mother in their community is expecting.
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| AAH representatives hold the meeting at the local Youth Center |
All issues are discussed when
these meetings are in session to help break down some of the social stigmas
that have been built up in these communities over generations. Everything from
Planned Parenthood to HIV testing and even myths such as child birth being a
disease are discussed in the meeting so everyone can learn and take this
knowledge back to their communities. During the meetings all who attend are
encouraged to ask any questions on the processes or what they might be able to
do in order to help. So far this year Kyangwali has already lost six mothers
and even more children all from childbirth, unfortunately all the mothers died
after their fifth pregnancy. This preventable number of deaths is closely
related to the education these women in the communities are not receiving.
The main goal of these meetings are to keep
the people informed of how they can have a safe pregnancy. The paramount issue
that the Health Department pushes is by first conceiving the baby in the health
centers and not at home. Women who are expecting are encouraged to visit the
health centers at least four times throughout the pregnancy to check up on the
status in order to test the health of the mother and fetus.
The four visits are for:
1.
Make sure the woman is pregnant
2.
Go for tests, HIV, malaria, and then receives
results and provisions to protect her from diseases and parasites
3.
Check on status of pregnancy and see if the
child can be delivered here in Kyangwali or if it must be delivered in Hoima
(the nearest city an hour and a half away on dirt roads)
4.
Same as # 3
The earlier the better, women
often delay to visit health centers and wait till the last minute when
complications could arise. So the earlier a pregnant woman goes to the health
center the easier the pregnancy will be. Once the expecting mother’s delays and
waits until the later stages of labor then simple tasks like getting to the
health centers in order to have a safe delivery become a problem. Though
Kyangwali does have some ambulances, they are often being used for other
emergencies. When they are able to come for the expecting mother when she is in
her later stages, issues such as getting to the village and then getting back
to the health center become difficult and very painful for the mothers.
Families and mothers often delay so much that when the ambulance arrives the
mother has already delivered. However the responsibility should not be on the
mother alone to make sure the pregnancy is as safe as possible.
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| Sister Joan talks to the those who attend the meeting about safe practices of childbirth |
The Congolese refugees have a
strong sense of community. Those at the meeting voice their concerns on child
birthing deaths, they want these children to live because if not then a part of
your country’s future dies, your culture’s future dies, and it’s a waste. Community
participation in these villages in the camp is a huge point that AAH tries to
drive into those who attend the meeting. If AAH can reach out and teach the
communities on these processes then there will be less of a chance that the
expecting mothers of that community will fail to perform these visits.
Providing the families and communities with responsibility over the expecting
mother will help encourage the mother to go and visit the health centers
throughout her pregnancy.
Aside from failing to visit the
health centers to assist in mothers pregnancies there are also other major issues
that many refugees tend to ignore in the settlement camps. HIV is a massive
problem all over the world, according to the WHO there are 35 million people
living with HIV (two-thirds of which reside in Sub-Saharan Africa) and around
2.5 million people who become newly infected each year. Out of those 35 million
who are living with it, 1.7 million die each year from HIV (1).
AAH talks with those at the meeting of the dangers of not being tested and not
knowing of the individual’s status. This is one of the most dangerous issues
for women and especially for expecting mothers.
For mothers who are unaware of
their HIV status often stop breastfeeding or never start it in fear that they
may transmit the infection to their newborn. This method would leave life-long issues
which hurts the child almost as much as transmitting the infection to them. If
the parents got tested and were aware of their HIV status then AAH could
provide the necessary drugs so mothers would not have to believe that they must
stop nurturing their newborns in order to keep them safe.
The meeting stresses on couple
testing for HIV, this is a major issue to test to know if someone is safe. If
AAH can prevent the child from getting HIV it is one less person they need to
worry about for drugs. This year alone the HIV prevalence is 6.2% and
increasing, more and more refugees are getting infected daily whether it is
from lack of knowledge or malicious cases such as rapes. Out of the ever
growing 20,000+ population of Kyangwali, there are thousands of people in the settlement
camp that are unaware of their status; not knowing tends to cause a great deal
of problems.
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| AAH hands out condoms in efforts to promote Planned Parenthood |
Having too many kids is also
another major issue in the settlement camp, which is why Planned Parenthood is another
critical program which AAH teaches in these meetings. When parents have too
many children than they can bare they are unknowingly driving themselves into
poverty. Taking care of the needs, health, and school supplies of one or two
children can add up to a lot of money for the parents. When the parents start
having more than two children then complications arise for the whole family,
its becomes a worse life for everyone, parent and child a like. AAH tries to
show at the meeting that having fewer children will help their financial
situation and also the health of their entire family. Being aware of Planned
Parenthood and having fewer children will help the parents focus more on the
health, safety, and supplies for the children they already have.
AAH tries to promote the
individual’s culture as much as possible, they do not want refugees to lose
themselves and who they are just because they are in the settlement camp. When
the refugees and their children start dying due to the lack of knowledge or the
unwillingness to help themselves, a part of their culture does die, their
future dies. Things will never change until people are ready to learn, they
need to learn the proper and safer ways of doing things. HIV testing, Planned
Parenthood, and safer practices of pregnancy are all major issues that need to
be addressed to the refugees of Kyangwali. Helping those who attend the
meetings change will help their communities change as well. Hopefully in time
these small changes can add up to big decreases in the amount of deaths of
mothers and children.
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