Laos Birthwork
Donation protected
Hello friends,
Our names are Jenny Blyth, Fiona Hallinan, Stef Arvanitakis & Claire Eccleston. We are 4 birthworkers seeking funds to enable us to hold a 5 day training for 25 midwives and healthworkers from the 2 poorest districts in Luang Prabang province in northern Laos. The training will take place in January 2017, with a focus on Maternal and Child Health.
Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a high maternal and infant mortality rate. Luang Prabang province is situated in the north of Laos where it is mountainous and populated with a great number of diverse ethnicities. Most villagers live at subsistence level.
Access to health care at the nearest village clinic or district hospital is often limited and sometimes impossible, due to weather conditions, lack of transport, fear of safety on the journey, or lack of money. Sometimes there are prohibitive cultural beliefs or the fear of being treated unkindly and without privacy.
When traditional birth attendants, midwives or healthworkers from a particular village or clinic feel unsure about a situation in birth, they will transfer women on to the district or provincial hospital. Ambulance services are rare, and women are transported either on a motorbike or in a car procured at great expense. Most village clinics and many district hospitals are gravely under-resourced, and often there is an unnecessary use of resources and money. Ongoing trainings for midwives and healthworkers is scant.
Globally, there is a recognition of the difficulties of implementing the ideal of free maternal health and ‘western style’ modern obstetric care services for all pregnant women, and indeed in some countries, services are declining. There is a great need to optimize outcomes through training and supporting local midwives and health workers in low-tech skills and adapting them to difficult conditions.
This is where we come in with our collective experience. We are two midwives (one also working in Maternal & Child Health), one traditional birthworker, and one doula. We all have long years experience in both hospital and homebirth settings, and in birth education. We are also all bodyworkers with vast and rewarding experience in implementing simple touch and positioning techniques in pregnancy, birth and after the birth. We all have keen interest in passing on these hands-on low-tech skills that can make a vast difference in securing the wellbeing of mother and babe through birth.
We will be traveling to Luang Prabang as volunteers. This enables us to implement a training approved by the Ministry of Health, without being a registered organization. We believe in working at a grass roots level and will come under the Birthwork and World Birth Hub logos.
In the training we will cover:
· How to manage complications in an isolated situation, including resuscitation technique, and skills to help birth stuck babies and manage bleeding.
· How to recognise and care for sick babies and mothers.
· The importance of hygiene and nutrition.
· The importance of kindness and compassion in birth. Keeping up morale and maintaining a friendly attitude.
· Addressing of birth positioning options and privacy around birth.
· Acknowledgement and addressing of problems they face, with discussion.
So, we need your financial help to transport, accommodate, and train the participants in Luang Prabang town. This is more economical than us going out to the districts. We also need to pay a couple of translators for both the training and for printed material. We need some educational resources for the training, and we want to ensure that each midwife or health worker goes home with some notes, and also some simple supplies for the village clinic. Mostly we aim to send everyone home feeling confident and inspired towards their work, acknowledged in the simple but important skills that they have, and the problems they face.
If all this is achievable, then it will set a precedent that will enable us, along with other birthworkers, to volunteer future trainings once a year.
Every donation is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your generosity,
Jenny, Fiona, Claire & Stef.
Jenny Blyth, Fiona hallinan, Stef Arvanitakis, and Claire Eccleston
Our names are Jenny Blyth, Fiona Hallinan, Stef Arvanitakis & Claire Eccleston. We are 4 birthworkers seeking funds to enable us to hold a 5 day training for 25 midwives and healthworkers from the 2 poorest districts in Luang Prabang province in northern Laos. The training will take place in January 2017, with a focus on Maternal and Child Health.
Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a high maternal and infant mortality rate. Luang Prabang province is situated in the north of Laos where it is mountainous and populated with a great number of diverse ethnicities. Most villagers live at subsistence level.
Access to health care at the nearest village clinic or district hospital is often limited and sometimes impossible, due to weather conditions, lack of transport, fear of safety on the journey, or lack of money. Sometimes there are prohibitive cultural beliefs or the fear of being treated unkindly and without privacy.
When traditional birth attendants, midwives or healthworkers from a particular village or clinic feel unsure about a situation in birth, they will transfer women on to the district or provincial hospital. Ambulance services are rare, and women are transported either on a motorbike or in a car procured at great expense. Most village clinics and many district hospitals are gravely under-resourced, and often there is an unnecessary use of resources and money. Ongoing trainings for midwives and healthworkers is scant.
Globally, there is a recognition of the difficulties of implementing the ideal of free maternal health and ‘western style’ modern obstetric care services for all pregnant women, and indeed in some countries, services are declining. There is a great need to optimize outcomes through training and supporting local midwives and health workers in low-tech skills and adapting them to difficult conditions.
This is where we come in with our collective experience. We are two midwives (one also working in Maternal & Child Health), one traditional birthworker, and one doula. We all have long years experience in both hospital and homebirth settings, and in birth education. We are also all bodyworkers with vast and rewarding experience in implementing simple touch and positioning techniques in pregnancy, birth and after the birth. We all have keen interest in passing on these hands-on low-tech skills that can make a vast difference in securing the wellbeing of mother and babe through birth.
We will be traveling to Luang Prabang as volunteers. This enables us to implement a training approved by the Ministry of Health, without being a registered organization. We believe in working at a grass roots level and will come under the Birthwork and World Birth Hub logos.
In the training we will cover:
· How to manage complications in an isolated situation, including resuscitation technique, and skills to help birth stuck babies and manage bleeding.
· How to recognise and care for sick babies and mothers.
· The importance of hygiene and nutrition.
· The importance of kindness and compassion in birth. Keeping up morale and maintaining a friendly attitude.
· Addressing of birth positioning options and privacy around birth.
· Acknowledgement and addressing of problems they face, with discussion.
So, we need your financial help to transport, accommodate, and train the participants in Luang Prabang town. This is more economical than us going out to the districts. We also need to pay a couple of translators for both the training and for printed material. We need some educational resources for the training, and we want to ensure that each midwife or health worker goes home with some notes, and also some simple supplies for the village clinic. Mostly we aim to send everyone home feeling confident and inspired towards their work, acknowledged in the simple but important skills that they have, and the problems they face.
If all this is achievable, then it will set a precedent that will enable us, along with other birthworkers, to volunteer future trainings once a year.
Every donation is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your generosity,
Jenny, Fiona, Claire & Stef.
Jenny Blyth, Fiona hallinan, Stef Arvanitakis, and Claire Eccleston
Organizer
Jenny Blyth
Organizer
Toolara Forest, QLD