"Call The Midwife" - Supporting maternal health:

A founding issue for MM following the first visit to Berega and Tunguli in 2012 was maternal health. From the setting up of Tushikamane groups in 2016 - to provide support during pregnancy and early years and improve outcomes - ie healthy mums and healthy babies - has been our goal. Following the key improvement in clean water and sanitation through our partnership wuth SAWA, we have supported the position of a midwife at Tunguli Health Centre for the last 3-4 years.

The current midwife, Yona, has been working with us for the last 2 years. His midwife duties are in addition to his normal nursing duties at the HC. He also goes out to every Tushikamane group once a month to teach them about various aspects and hazards of pregnancy, and how to protect themselves and maintain optimum health. We also help fund the motorbike he requires to do this. Yona is extremely kind and hardworking and the ladies in the groups like him and trust him.

Since we have been supporting a midwife, we have been very happy with maternal outcomes.Yona has delivered anything between 13 and 25 babies per month, including 3 sets of twins. Only 1 mother and 1 baby has died in the last 2 years. The trust in him means that nearly all the mothers deliver at the health centre and stay overnight. From there they can be referred to Berega hospital if there are complications beyond Yona's management, eg Caesarian section. MM also supports the motorcycle ambulance to provide immediate transport to Berega if the family is unable to take her.

Supporting a midwife at the health centre is something we are committed to longterm.