- 8 babies were enrolled (6 orphans and 2 babies with mothers hospitalized in critical care). Nurses visited 162 babies and discharged 12. We are currently following 248 babies (newborns – 24mo).
- 3 women were enrolled. Two of the three had stillborns and two of the three had total hysterectomies.
Baby Care Story. Dalitso’s mom attended prenatal care throughout her pregnancy. She wasn’t exactly certain how far along she was, and on 24th October Dalitso was born, weighing less than 5lbs. His mom lost a lot of blood during the delivery and was transferred to the District Hospital for a blood transfusion. Within the relatively short period of three hours after the birth, she arrived at the referral hospital and received the first unit of blood. It took another seven hours for her to receive a second unit and by that time her condition had deteriorated significantly. She died during the transfusion.
Postpartum hemorrhage is one of the most common causes of maternal death in Malawi. The contributing factors include: pre-existing severe chronic anemia (malnutrition), poor management of obstetric hemorrhage, a poor emergency transportation system, poor access to emergency obstetric care, inadequate supply of blood products, and difficulty in accessing available blood products. It is unlikely that midwives attending her at the referral hospital had an accurate estimate of the blood she lost during the birth. The midwives were most likely assessing her need for blood by her vital signs and unfortunately a woman can lose 25% of her blood volume before she becomes symptomatic. Even if she had received the two pints immediately following the hemorrhage, it is unlikely that this intervention alone would have saved her life. She was 21 years old. After the funeral, Dalitso’s grandmother brought him to Joyful Motherhood to enroll him in our program. Our nurses will visit Dalitso and his grandmother monthly to provide formula and ensure that he remains healthy over his first two years of life. DONATE
