A LONG AND WINDING ROADACCESSING HEALTH CARE IN SIDAMA, ETHIOPIA

A LONG AND WINDING ROADACCESSING HEALTH CARE IN SIDAMA, ETHIOPIA

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MSF MEDIA LIBRARY

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATTHIAS STEINBACH

Since 2012, MSF has been running a mother and child healthcare project in Sidama Zone of SNNPR (Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region) in Ethiopia. MSF will, end of October 2014, hand-over the project to the Ministry of Health and regional authorities. MSF has mainly been working in the two Woredas (divisions) of Chire and Mejo.

In collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, MSF has been able to save the lives of large number of mothers and children as well as curbing preventable morbidities. Since the intervention began, more than 12,000 women benefited from Antenatal- and postnatal, over 2,000 pregnant women delivered in safe conditions and more than 1,500 children with complicated severe malnutrition were treated in the stabilisation centres in Chire and Mejo.

Child care has been a priority for MSF in Sidama since the inception of the project. 1,957 children under the age of 5 years old have been admitted and undergone specialised treatment in the inpatient service. Health staff from the woreda benefited from on-the-job training by MSF teams.

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Oval-shaped huts scattered all around a small area adorned with lush indigenous trees and expansive green meadows that give a feeling of homeliness is typical of villages in the Sidama zone, where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a maternal health project in the Chire and Mejo divisions (known as woredas).

Expectant mother Widinesh Legabo’s village is 20 kilometres from the administrative town of Mejo. Widinesh, 32, has already gone through five challenging pregnancies, with long hours of labour, extensive bleeding and extreme shock during child birth. From the age of 16, when she had her first child, each delivery has always been a tormenting time for Widinesh. “Once I even went through a terrible six-day labour. I was suffering day and night. The cheerful voices of children playing out in the open and the sound of mowing cows outside that I always liked became unbearable. I wanted to lie still and forget that I was alive. The pain was unbearable,” she says. Widinesh has given birth to three sets of twins and two babies in five pregnancies. She had all the deliveries at home with traditional birth attendants.

Widinesh’s story is echoed in the tales of women at the Mothers’ Waiting Houses in Chire and Mejo. “The maternity waiting houses have two major purposes; to bring expectant mothers living in distant villages closer to health facilities before delivery, and to closely monitor women with a history of complications in the later stages of pregnancy in order to respond quickly to any complications before or during delivery,” explains Girma Fikru, an MSF nurse in Sidama. Most of the women are referred to the waiting houses by MSF outreach teams that go to remote villages in the region to conduct medical consultations and provide treatment, including vaccinations, as well as offer health education to women of childbearing age. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, MSF has set up a 24-hour ambulance service to help curb the arduous travel to the nearest health centres during emergencies.

Access to antenatal care and postnatal care services is crucial to preventing infant and maternal mortality. Since the inception of the project, a total of 12,027 antenatal and postnatal consultations have been conducted. 1,248 deliveries have been successfully conducted at the health centre in Mejo and 771 in Chire. Overall, the total number of women in the two locations seeking institutional delivery services has improved.

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Unobstructed motherhood: women delivering safely in Sidama, EthiopiaBy Mesai Mituku

In order to prevent contraction and spread of contagious diseases, MSF teams have travelled on foot, on horseback and in 4 wheel drive vehicles to cross the mountainous terrain of Sidama during rainy season, to vaccinate children

MSF teams travel on horseback in the Mejo Woredas, Sidama Zone of Ethiopia

Arrival at the MSF centre in Mejo.

MSF outreach in Mejo.

Health education session in Mejo.

MSF health care reaches Mejo in the Sidama zone of SNNPR, Ethiopia, in order to vaccinate children.

Education session in Chire.

MSF health centre in Mejo.

MSF established an innovative approach by setting up Mother’s Waiting Houses in the two Woredas of Chire and Mejo, where pregnant women with complications and living far away from the Health Centre could stay and benefit from regular medical observation until delivery. 600 women delivered safely and there’s been zero maternal mortality.

Mother and child clinic, Mejo.

Mejo health centre.

Mejo health centre.

The mothers’ waiting houses in Chire and Mejo Woredas have brought joy to many

women of Sidama. Now they smile because they are assured of quality

healthcare before, during and after delivery. To their newborns, neonatal care is also

given in the first few months of their lives.

Mothers’ waiting house, Chire

MSF health centre, Chire.

MSF health centre, Chire.

MSF health centre, Chire.

MSF mother and baby centre in Chire.

MSF outreach in Chire.

MSF outreach in Chire.

The MSF mother’s waiting houses in Mejo.