Blog by Katherine Brown
Katherine, Bhairavi Balram (Canadian Medical Student) and
Save the Mothers' Intern, Victoria Shaw with a mother and her baby at Mulago
Hospital. This was the first baby they helped deliver.
"If you are thinking about having a baby, I encourage you
to wait. Maybe in your own country have one, but not if you are staying in
Uganda, not after what I have seen today."
- Hadija (25 years old)
Pregnant mother referencing her experience at Mulago Hospital
Last night I spent nearly 12 hours in the Labour Ward at
Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. As the largest referral hospital in the
country, the health care facility in Kampala, Uganda is intended to offer the
best government-funded health care in the country. The reality is quite
different. Mulago is plagued by systemic issues. It is over-crowded and
under-resourced.
As I walked in to the Labor Suite, all 15 beds in the room
were full of expectant mothers waiting to give birth. An additional 8 women
were lying on the floor. Countless other mothers were queued outside waiting to
be admitted. It was overwhelming. Many had been referred from other hospitals
with life-threatening pregnancy complications. The time it took to travel to
Mulago already meant a delay in care. These mothers desperately needed the
operating theatre to be prepared so they could deliver via caesarean section.
But there was a problem.
The operating room had no sterile gauze, instruments or
surgical gowns. An autoclave is a pressure chamber used to sterilize medical
equipment and supplies. It is a machine of critical importance to any operation.
Last night, the largest hospital in Uganda, which sometimes hosts up to 3,000
patients, was left with only one functioning machine. For many of the women on
the waiting list for surgery, every moment of delay increases the chances she
or her baby will die.
Last night I witnessed a stillbirth. The baby had died in
utero two days earlier. For a mother, going through labor is made bearable with
the knowledge that on the other side of an agonizing mountain of pain, new life
is waiting. Now imagine a mother faced with torturous labor but all that awaits
her at the end is the lifeless body of her child. It was one of the most
traumatic births I have witnessed, especially for the mother. Other mothers who
were left waiting for a c-section may also lose their baby.
Although there was death, there is also life. Violet was
just 19 years old and having her first child. She was so scared. I was able to
speak with her and encourage her through the birth. Violet gave birth to a
healthy little boy. I was more than a little stunned when she asked me to name
her child. It is an honour and a huge responsibility to give a child the name
he will bear for the rest of his life. I thought of King David, a man after
God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). That would be my prayer for Violet's newborn.
In just one night at Mulago hospital I witnessed the joys of childbirth and the tragedy of lives lost. It gave me a greater appreciation for the work of Save the Mothers. I am a part of an organization that is helping to save lives. The Mother-Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative developed by Save the Mothers is working with hospital administrators and staff to make changes in health care facilities across East Africa. They are improving maternal and newborn services so that no infant will die because the mother was delayed having a caesarean section. The challenges are many, but progress is being made. I am so grateful to be working with Save the Mothers, an organization that is truly bringing hope to moms and their babies.
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Katherine Brown is the daughter of Moira Brown. She is
currently working in Uganda as an intern with Save the Mothers, a Canadian
charity. The charity runs a Master in Public Health Leadership (MPHL) program
at Uganda Christian University and Katherine serves as the assistant to Dr.
Jean Chamberlain Froese, the Executive Director of the program.