Severe bleeding threatened Dora Emilis life, and could have left her five children motherless. Happily she is alive, but 8000 mothers die every year in her country Tanzania. Spreading the knowledge and use of the ABCs of life support can have a great impact on the survival of mothers and babies.
Dora Emili looks proudly on her one day old twins, who lie wrapped in traditional colorful fabric on the bed beside her. She is a mother of five children and comes from Mbezi, Tanzania.
When it was time to give birth, she didn’t make it to the hospital, and therefore was assisted by a retired nurse in her home.
– I was afraid to give birth at home, but the contractions came so fast, she explains while wiping sweat from her face in the warm hospital ward and taking a sip to drink from a cup.
Things went well at first, but later on she started bleeding severely. Fortunately, she was able to go to the Mwananyamala Hospital, where she received the treatment that she needed.
Unfortunately, not all mothers in Tanzania get the treatment that they need when it is time to give birth. Every year 8000 mothers die in the country due to problems related to childbirth, and as everywhere else in the world, the death of a mother has devastating effects on the loved ones she leaves behind.
Every day in 2015, 830 women died because of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Nearly all of these deaths occur in low-resource settings and are preventable. The main reasons are bleeding, pre-eclampsia and infections.
Spreading the knowledge and use of the ABCs of life support can have a great impact on the survival of mothers and babies. Through an established collaboration with hospitals and authorities in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania the Life Support Foundation works to save more lives.
Doctor Sobere Mzige puts his hand on Dora Emilis shoulder, asking how she feels.
– I felt very weak yesterday, but everything is better now. I am very happy to be alive and to have my twins, she smiles, lifting up them since it is time to breastfeed.
Here are some examples of what was achieved in 2015:
- 30 perticipants were trained in Paediatrics and Care of Critically Ill Children
- 53 perticipants went through Dar es Salaam Refresher Course in Obstetric Anaesthesia and Obstetric Emergency Care
- 33 participants went through Training in Trauma and Emergency Anaesthesia
- Total now trained on Life Support courses = 431
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