AFRICA/UGANDA - "Birth cushions" to convince the women of Karamoja to go to hospital

Monday, 31 July 2017

CUAMM

Moroto (Agenzia Fides) – The presentation of "Birth cushions" will be held these days, in Washington, created by the NGO Doctors with Africa CUAMM. It is an innovative solution aimed at convincing women from Karamoja, a region in the north of Uganda, to give birth in a hospital or health center. Selected among the finalists to Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development, sponsored by the US cooperation agency (Usaid), the project of birth cushions aims at improving the quality of health during pregnancy and delivery. The results are encouraging: thanks to this innovation, from 2013 to 2015, assisted deliveries at health centers went from 11,424 to 25,592.
Doctors with Africa CUAMM introduced Birth Cushions, a low-tech and cheap technology, for the first time in 2013 in Karamoja, where there has been an increase of assisted deliveries at the Health Centers. Given that women preferred giving birth at home instead of going to a health center, Cuamm staff produced a prototype birth cushion on which women could give birth in the traditional position, assisted by a mid-wife.
Of the 550 projects, 53 have reached the final, Cuamm is the only Italian organization. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 31/7/2017)


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