Burkina Faso/Maternal and child health: 102 village midwives in Tougan health district receive bicycles and other equipment
The songs and shouts of joy heard in the courtyard of Toma's CELPAC on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 2, 2024, attracted curious onlookers, intrigued by what was going on. As soon as they entered the gate, they saw a group of women dancing and humming local tunes amidst a consignment of new bicycles and other equipment. The joyful ladies were a group of village Accoucheuses (AV) who were expressing their feelings after being provided with the equipment and means of mobility essential to their work in the villages. Some climbed aboard their new mounts to test them out, while others showered blessings on the Red Cross.
On receiving the blessings and warm greetings of the beneficiaries, Dr Thierry Ouédraogo was overcome by an emotional wave of gratitude. The Burkinabe Red Cross sexual and reproductive health program manager couldn't have hoped for more after the entire Burkinabe Red Cross team had mobilized with him to respond to the grievances of these village birth attendants. During previous discussions with them, the VAs had expressed the wish to be provided with additional means of transport, so as to be able to reach more quickly certain homes where they were to perform hygienic deliveries.
The ceremony organized in Toma therefore satisfied the needs of 102 village birth attendants. In addition to the 102 brand-new bicycles, the package also included 102 individual protection kits (gowns, gloves, boots, goggles, masks, chlorine bleach tablets, raincoats), 408 delivery kits (mats, bednets, etc.) and a number of other items.delivery kits (mats, undersheets, scalpel blades, umbilical cord thread, penguin to suck liquid from the newborn's nose and mouth, gel for umbilical cord care, eye drops for eye care), 260 soap balls and 208 bottles of liquid soap. The composition of these kits was proposed by the technical departments of the Ministry of Health, which were involved in the handover ceremony held in Toma.
According to the logic of the sexual and reproductive health project behind the kits, strengthening the material capacities of these village midwives should help to relief for women in the Tougan health district, where more than half the health centers are closed or operating at minimal capacity due to insecurity. Long before this endowment, these women had been trained in hygienic childbirth and first aid. Thanks to their enhanced skills, they are now able to save lives in the community by liaising with health workers.
Beneficiaries already know how to make the best use of the equipment. "In my village, I often found it difficult to respond quickly to calls from families to assist pregnant women in labor. But I know that from now on, I'll be more operational with everything the Red Cross has given me", says one, before urging the other birth attendants to manage the equipment responsibly.
The donation made to the Toma CELPAC is one of the major activities of the sexual and reproductive health project that the Burkinabe Red Cross has been running since 2023 in the Tougan health district (Boucle du Mouhoun region) and Réo and Koudougou (Centre-Ouest region), with the support of the Finnish Red Cross. One of the main aims of the project is to improve access to maternal and child health care, thereby helping to reduce maternal and infant mortality in the community.
Source: lefaso.net/
