Stand Up for African Mothers

Amref Health Africa’s midwife training doesn’t just educate future midwives—it educates entire communities. Elizabeth has been a midwife in Makueni County in Kenya for over 33 years. When she first started practicing, many women and newborns in her region were dying from treatable birth complications because they were delivering at home with traditional birth attendants. Elizabeth is committed to stopping unnecessary death and suffering in her community by providing these women with the emergency care they desperately need, despite cultural and educational obstacles. Amref Health Africa’s midwife training helps her make that happen.

Through Amref’s efforts, Elizabeth and her colleagues at the local health center have received basic emergency obstetric and newborn care training and equipment. Expanding their skills set saves countless lives-- before this training, a stuck placenta or a newborn having trouble breathing could mean death, even at the center. Amref also provided training on how to work with local community leaders to ensure women deliver in safe facilities where they would get appropriate care. Elizabeth says, “…with Amref’s help, I’ve been able to bring the traditional birth attendants on board, train them... I’ve shown traditional birth attendants the need to instruct mothers to deliver at the health center and not at home where there is no help in case of emergency.”

Effective outreach doesn’t stop there. Elizabeth regularly educates local subchiefs, prominent leaders shaping community opinions, about the importance of delivering at the health facility. “We have four subchiefs – who are already inspired – one sub chief regularly delivers the message that ‘conception is at home but delivery is at the hospital’. So we are using all the opinion leaders to create awareness in the community so that mothers come to the health facility to avoid complications,” she shares. The results are impressive. Local traditional birth attendants are now organized in a referral network, educating mothers, and public opinion is changing. Deliveries at the health center have increased from 236 per year to 317 per year from 2012 to 2014 and maternal deaths have decreased.

There is still so much work to be done. When asked about local challenges, Elizabeth replies, “[There is a] shortage of midwives, where I’m forced to work day and night even when I’m supposed to be off, or work when I’m on leave, or when I’m supposed to be off duty. There is a problem of transport where I have been forced to beg for vehicles to transport a mother to the nearest district hospital where they can be helped.” That is why Amref Health Africa is dedicated to continue training midwives and offering support to midwives like Elizabeth. With your generous support, 5,989 midwives have received or are currently receiving training through Amref Health Africa’s Stand Up for African Mothers campaign.