Physical Health Uganda Project #17591

Building a Maternity Clinic for the Community

by Karin Community Initiatives Uganda

Project Report | Sep 8, 2015
nowhere to deliver, baby delivered under the tent

By Hope Okeny | Project Leader

new born baby

Dear friends,

We found this story very amazing and yet it tells a lot about the challenges we face as a rural clinic and we wanted to share this with you. But we are also glad that together with us we are there to be of helping hand.

It was a hot Thursday afternoon day and there were several patients waiting to be attended to. The tent where most of the patients normally sit whilst waiting for their test results was full and there were no seats. It was eqaully hot under the tent with temperatures of . Inside the building, all the health staff where busy because it was equally busy.

Twenty three year old Debra has been referred from the Gulu Regional Referral Hospital with malaria in pregnancy and she arrived when she was very weak and had a high temperature. Her immediate need was to find somewhere to lie down but there was no where to lie down.

When Jasper noticed her condition, he immediately attended to her. On examining her, he started her on immediate recommended treatment for pregnant mothers suffering from malaria. But Debra was restless, she complained of abnorminal pains and she wanted to go to the bathrom and she asked Jasper if she could go out. Jasper hesitantly allowed on condition that he escorts her there.

In the pit latrine toilet, Debra felt the urge to push the baby. When Jasper heard her screams he quickly called her out and took her under the tent. she was in at term and already in her second and final stage of labour. Debra was not even aware that she was in labour.

There was no where to lay her, the rooms inside where full of patients and the tent was packed with people. The quick thinking staff got some bedsheets and formed a bedsheet barrier inorder to allow Debra deliver her baby in privacy. Under the tent at the corner, on a table, Debra began to push. We had no instruments nor medication for delivery!

But thank God it was a normal delivery, within no time, Debra had delivered a 2.5kg, baby boy. Mother and baby were wrapped up and sent back to the Regional referral Hospital for post partum care. She was requested to return for immunisation of her baby.

High maternal mortality rates persist in Uganda due to limited capacity of health facilities to manage abortion/miscarraige complications, poor quality of healthcare services limited reproductive health literacy and malaira and prevalence of HIV/AIDS among pregnant mothers.

Malaria infection during pregnancy is a significant public health problem with substantial tisks for the pregnant mother. her fetus and newborn child, it could lead to low birth weight.

We can tell this story today because it ended well. However, this could have been a sad story. We can avoid these situations with your support, by completing the maternity ward. And ensuring that it is equipped and managed by well-trained medical professionals, so that mothers like Debra can have a safe delivery place in their village.

We call out to you and ask you to click your mouse once again, take 5 minutes to share our GlobalGiving page with your contacts and tell them why you decided to donate to us and why they should do the same.

Please help us to save more mums and babies, by becoming a regular donor of this critical work, or making another one off donation. Thank you for your continued support. It really makes a great difference!

Can you do more? Consider signing up for a monthly recurring donation today. Thank you for your support!

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Mar 17, 2015
saving our mothers and babies

By Hope Okeny | Project Leader

laying the foundation for sustainable lives

Dear Friends,

In our last report, we shared the impact your support had made on our Maternity work in 2014. The antenatal clinic has grown from 5 to 8 mothers attending antenatal services, we are now attending to over 40 mothers. This time, we wanted to encourage you to make a difference in the maternal care!

We reported about the construction of the maternity ward and appealed to many of you to support its construction. We do not want to give the mothers an opportunity to attend antenatal only for them to look for another place for delivery. The maternity ward once complete will serve many areas including delivery, monitoring expectant mothers who would otherwise not be able to stay at home due to complications of pregnancy etc.

The individual lives you have supported us to serve and save is incredible, but the need remains urgent. Just a few weeks ago, Anena, a young 18 year old mother was bought to the health centre, because she could not walk any further to the next health facility, she had spent the whole night in labour because there was no transport in the middle of the night. Being the nearest health facility in the parish, the village health team rushed her to the health centre hoping that she could deliver here. Our team realised that this was too complicated to handle in the facility, and she was immediately rushed to the next facility.

However, the severe delays in transferring the mother and baby can leave the baby or the mother in a critical state.

We feel that a mother should not die giving life, nor should the baby die because its mother could not access health care!

We can avoid these situations with your support, by completing the maternity ward. And ensuring that its equipped and managed by well-trained medical professionals.

Today, we are asking for a few clicks of your mouse: take 5 minutes to share our GlobalGiving page with your contacts and tell them why you decided to donate to us and why they should do the same.

Please help us to save more mums like Anena and babies, by becoming a regular donor of this critical work, or making another one off donation. Thank you for your continued support. It really makes a great difference!

Can you do more? Consider signing up for a monthly recurring donation today. Thank you for your support!

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Nov 11, 2014
Building the Maternity Unit

By Benna Aguti and Gloria Anena | Clinical Officers

construction work

Dear friends,

It is always a great pleasure to bring you news of what is happening at the health centre. The construction has moved on but at a slow pace due to various reasons. The rains have gone on for longer, slowing down the work and the anicipated funding has reduced too.

But for the community, mainly mothers the sight of this construction is bringing much joy because they know what this means.

This month we were visited by Jacky a senior midwife from the district health office. She has worked in this community for over 20 years and knows the challenges that many women face. She has watched the pain that pregnant women go through when they come to the government facility where she works. She narrated to me how it will be important that this maternity unit is completed and opened up.

Jacky narrated to me how one night a young woman was brought in the dead of the night, she was due to give birth but the facility did not have power to carry out this delivery. The facility had run out of gloves and there was nothing to calm her pain. In this dilemma Jacky asked the motorcycle rider to put on the head lights and it is what was used to deliver this baby. Thankfully there was no complications and ther delivery was successful.

But these are not rare cases, everyday pregnant women are forced to deliver at home becuase of the distance to the health facility, delays of the mother to seek medical attention, delays in recognising danger signs and lack of qualified health workers. The Karin Maternity Unit seeks to reduce this incidences, by bringing the health facility closer to the community.

We thank you all for the support that have made all of this progress possible, but the struggle isn’t over. Northern Uganda is still one of the most challenging places in the world to become a mother, and we need you to recruit more support for our cause. When potential supporters hear us talking about why they should make a donation today, they listen. But when your friends and family hear you talk about our work as someone who is already a supporter and knows that we are making a difference, they’ll act.

Can you do more? Consider signing up for a monthly recurring donation today. Thank you for your support!

construction works

child looking at construction work

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