We create access to medical care before and during childbirth
At our hospital in the Central African Republic, our midwives provide professional birth care to pregnant women.
On assignment as a midwife in the Central African Republic
Sarah Albrecht, a midwife from Berlin, spent six months working for us in the Central African Republic. There, she supported our medical team in the maternity ward. In her work, she has learned the importance of providing on-site prenatal and postnatal care for expectant mothers and newborns. This is because access to professional obstetric care is not available to all women in the country.
The Central African Republic still has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. Due to the lack of medical care, many expectant mothers cannot receive adequate care in case of complications. Most births still take place at home, as many women also cannot afford medical care.
Cap Anamur improves health care in the region
With our two hospitals in Bossembélé and Yaloké Province, we provide sound medical coverage for the 150,000 people within a radius of about 150 kilometers. We treat a total of around 77,000 patients annually. Every month, about 96 children are born in the two facilities and cared for by our midwives. We also provide approximately 340 prenatal consultations each month.
We regularly dispatch medical professionals to treat patients on site together with their local colleagues. In the maternity department, midwives, among others, care for mothers and newborns. In doing so, they pass on their knowledge to local forces and also conduct regular training. But our deployed project staff also learn new things during their assignment.
Our project employees gain completely new experiences in the field
In this way, Sarah learned how the local women go through their pregnancy and birth under very different conditions than in Germany. In most cases, pregnant women are cared for without the medical options we are familiar with. Although midwives in our health care facilities use ultrasound equipment to listen to fetal heart sounds, among other things, births take place without pain medication, for example.
In the six months Sarah has worked as a midwife at our hospital, she has cared for many mothers and babies who have needed her professional help.
This was also the case for the young mother whose child was born prematurely and could not drink due to a cramped jaw. With the assistance of the midwives, she fed the infant with a syringe. After three days and with the help of the medical staff, the mother was finally able to breastfeed her child. Sarah saw the mother again many times and was able to see how the baby grew more well-fed each time.
These experiences have made a lasting impression on Sarah. To see how a child with a difficult start and only through professional help, which is not given in the whole country, gets the chance to grow up. And also the fact that women themselves take long and difficult-to-pass routes to get to the hospital for prenatal care or childbirth.