IRIN Article: Maternity Health in Sierra Leone

The IRIN published an article today about the grim outlook of maternity health in Sierra Leone. As several of the JH kids' mothers have died from childbirth or the effects of childbirth, I thought this was pretty relevant. Sierra Leone has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world. Please read prayerfully.

"Maternity Hospital is Last Resort"


FREETOWN, 12 March 2008 (IRIN) - Two babies and several gaunt women are the only patients in the gloomy wards of the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown.

The hospital is supposed to be the main training and referrals unit for obstetrics in the country but its handful of staff were mostly found in backrooms, drinking tea with their feet resting on the surgical tables as they wile away their days in the eerily slow-moving wards.

“This hospital is a place of last resort for patients and staff,” said Sister Kanu, a nurse, who reckons conditions for mothers and hospital staff have “barely improved” since the end of Sierra Leone’s 11 year long civil war which devastated government and social infrastructure.

“By the time women get here it’s too late and the most we can do is to save the mother,” she said. “That’s why you see so few babies.”

See the link for the rest of the article (click here)