Charity Salima, 54, has helped to deliver over 4,000 babies in her maternity clinic in Area 23 - one of Malawi's poorest and most populous townships - and has yet to record a single pregnancy-related death.
In Malawi, the lifetime risk of a woman dying in pregnancy or childbirth is 1 in 36, compared to 1 in 4,600 in the United Kingdom, according to the Malawi Safe Motherhood Programme, an initiative to reduce maternal mortality in this Southern African nation.
"I used to witness pregnant women scramble for public transport or hitchhike for a lift just to reach a hospital. In most cases, some would die or lose their babies or develop post-delivery complications that could have been avoided if they had transport and got timely medical help," Salima says.
Salima used to work as a research nurse. But in 2008 she quit her job to set up her clinic, Achikondi Women Community Friendly Services, in a rented house near Malawi's capital, Lilongwe. And thanks to the help of the National Organisation of Nurses, a solidarity fund for retired nurses and midwives, which donated an ambulance to her clinic, she has been saving lives ever since.
"In Malawi, just like many African communities, when a woman is pregnant, everyone is anxious and filled with fear because they have seen so many women die while giving birth. And yet in developed countries, when a woman is pregnant, she and her family celebrate and are truly expectant," says Salima.
But Salima's clinic and her maternal health success rate here may prove a model for Malawi as the country grapples with saving the lives of its pregnant mothers.
Salima offers a complete range of other services at the clinic, including outpatient services for children under 5. Her clinic, however, is not for free. Patients pay a fee of about 3 dollars to help cover the cost of medicines from the government's central medical stores.
Kudos!
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