Support 300 Safe Births in the Nepal Himalaya

Sango is a 20 year old Nepalese woman who lives with her in-laws in Keraunja, in the remote Gorkha district. Here, there is limited access to many vital services including healthcare, antenatal care (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC). Further adding to the difficulties of living in the region, her family were badly affected by the 2015 earthquakes and have struggled since to recover economically. 

When Sango became pregnant, she attended all the classes on ANC provided by the PHASE Nepal healthcare teams in the area. When she first went into labour Sango was alone in her house, but luckily for her a FCHV and midwife were on hand to help her safely deliver her baby. Despite the successful delivery of the baby, they were unable to deliver the placenta, causing Sango extreme pain and posing an imminent threat. They immediately contacted the PHASE Nepal health staff, who were able to quickly attend to Sango. A PHASE Nepal health supervisor effectively administered oxytocin and delivered the placenta after 7 long hours. Afterwards, Sango was given regular PNC training including: breastfeeding, Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), hygiene, and family planning. She was also warned about important postnatal signs of danger for herself and her newborn baby.

Without the PHASE healthcare team, Sango’s life would have been in serious danger. She said “"If not for the efforts and dedication of PHASE staff, I would not have survived. I would have died without ever holding my baby". It is work like this that make PHASE so important. In these remote areas, maternal morbidity and mortality are very high, with over 70% of pregnant woman treated being anaemic.PHASE currently have 13 Primary Healthcare Centre’s across some of the most remote areas in Nepal, including Sango’s village. They aim to supply vital medical supplies, training and healthcare whilst developing a level of trust and respect amongst the community.

Between the years of 2013-2014 PHASE health staff carried out 364 postnatal checks, and supported the birth of 212 new babies. In the coming years, PHASE hope to expand their healthcare projects into more communities, enabling them to help even more young women like Sango. 

Without your support and valued donations PHASE would not be able to operate and women like Sango would not have access to vital, life-saving healthcare. Thank you for everything you have done so far.

Sarah and the PHASE Worldwide team

Links:

• http://www.phaseworldwide.org

Kashigaun is a cluster of settlements which all teeter on a steep mountain side in Gorkha district.   I travelled there just a few days ago on the 23^rd November.  This involved a 9-hour drive from Kathmandu mostly on rough unpaved ‘roads’ that shake you to the core, and, after an overnight stop, a 9 hour hike up steep mountainous trails and over swing bridges which cross deep gorges.   Kashigaun was close the epicentre of the earthquake and the destructions is still clearly visible, landslides scar the hillsides and I can’t imagine how it felt, in April 2015, to have the sides of mountains crashing down around you.

I met Yunisha, she’s 19 and has been one of the PHASE Nurse Midwifes based at Kashigaun health centre for the last year and a half.  Her current home is still a small tin house shared with 4 other staff, as the health workers accommodation was also lost in the earthquake.  Her role is to carry out antenatal and postnatal checks, deliver babies, support child immunisation programmes, run a clinic, facilitate street dramas on malnutrition and other key topics…I could go on!  A tall order for one so young, but in the brief time I spent in Kashiguan she acted with grace and maturity way above her years.  

During her time in her role two cases which stick in her mind are a breech baby and a case of eclampsia.  She hadn’t seen a breech baby before but had learnt about it in her training and was able to deliver the baby safely.  Luckily for the eclampsia case a PHASE staff nurse (with higher qualification than Yunisha) was in Kashigaun at the time and she was able to assist and mother and baby were fine.

Recently Yunisha supported 27 year old Sunita to deliver her baby.  Yunisha and I visited Sunita in her small but cosy home which centred around a fire pit, despite our protests Sunita insisted on making us tea and a snack of soy beans.  Sunita’s baby, Jiban, is just three months old and was born at home with the support of Yunisha.  Sunita’s husband has been working away in Malaysia for 5 months to earn money for his family, so missed the birth of his youngest child.  The family have two other children Jennie who is 3 and Sonia who is 7.  Jennie the middle child was born at home with no help from a health professional, there was no health worker in the village at the time and the next place with any health facilities is Arughat a days walk away.

Sunita went to all her 4 antenatal checks and her postnatal check at the PHASE health post, for this she received the incentive of a solar light.  She also visited the health post when she was 8 months pregnant as she had a pain in her side.  Sunita told us she has taken part in PHASE child health workshops so now knows how to prepare baby weaning food and has learnt more about sanitation.  She has also joined a mother’s groups, facilitated by the PHASE health staff, which creates a support network. 

PHASE doesn’t just support health work in Gorkha, our integrated approach means that we also think about livelihoods and education.  Sunita is part of the farmers group, so we had seen her earlier that morning in the monthly farmers group meeting to discuss setting up polytunnels to increase the production of vegetables.  This will lead to a more varied diet and a greater nutrition for her and her young children.  PHASE is also supporting the schools in Kashiguan meaning than Jiban, Jennie and Sonia will receive and education that is more child centred.      

If you would like to support mothers like Sunita, on the 29^th November you can add 50% to your donation AND help PHASE secure prize money of £2000 by giving at Global Giving – www.globalgiving.co.uk/projects/safe-births-in-nepal

Thank you!!