For a woman who has lost more than half dozen children as a result of their premature births, the anxiety of carrying another pregnancy can sometimes be traumatic for obvious reasons.
Anna, age 43, has had nine children; seven lost in childbirth as a result of premature deliveries. Pregnant for the 10th child, Anna feared the worst may happen to her again.
Truth to Anna’s fear, she went into labor prematurely.
“I was downhearted when I got into labor. I thought I was going to lose my baby again. But as God could have it, my baby is alive and safe after nineteen days spent under intensive care;” Anna said.
Anna was discharged to return home along with her healthy newborn on August 13 after having spent nearly three weeks at the hospital. She was full of praise for the midwives and doctors who managed to revive her newborn daughter she named Dorcas. “If it was not for the doctors and nurses, my baby will not be alive today. I am grateful to them for the care”; Anna says.
celebrate with Anna as she walks out of the Neonatal Unit with her baby
“When Anna came to the C.H. Rennie Hospital in labor, we realized that her pregnancy was in its 35th weeks. As expected, the baby was born underweight; weighing just 1.6 kilograms. We immediately moved the newborn to the Neonatal Unit for intensive care”, says Dr. Susan Kimono. The Neonatal Unit at the hospital is supported by UNFPA in partnership with Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International (MCAI). The facility provides critical cares for premature and/or sick newborns.
Dr. Kimono is a Ugandan Obstetrician and Gynecologist recruited and deployed at the C.H. Rennie Hospital in Kakata, Margibi County by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as part of its support to the Ministry of Health’s efforts to strengthen the maternal and newborn health intervention in Liberia.
The C.H Rennie Hospital serves a catchment population of about 40 thousand people and is also the referral center for 53 satellite clinics and health centers. In addition to providing clinical services at the C.H. Rennie Hospital, Dr. Kimono is also involved with knowledge transfer and capacity building of skilled healthcare providers assigned at the hospital including junior doctors, nurses and midwives through mentorship. She is also supporting the overall maternal and newborn health care delivery system of Margibi County as well as providing technical support to post graduate institutions in Liberia through lectures and presentations in OB-GYN.
“It is a blessing to have Dr. Kimono assigned with us at the C.H Rennie Hospital. I have been able to acquire more skills in emergency obstetric care;” says EmOC Doctor in Training Yarkpazuo Kollie.
According to Dr. Kollie, the presence of Dr. Kimono is helping to bridge the gap and accelerate progress towards building an integrated and strengthened maternal health care delivery system in Margibi County.
Dr. Kimono was initially part of a team of three specialist doctors from Uganda who were recruited by UNFPA in January 2017 to assist with the strengthening of the maternal and newborn health sector of Liberia. She was previously deployed at the Chief Jallah Lone Hospital in Bopolu, Gbarpolu County.
Since the launch of Liberia’s Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System in June 2015, UNFPA has intensified its support to the Ministry of Health to ensure the availability of skilled health care providers, infrastructure and equipment needed to restore maternal and newborn health services after the Ebola epidemic that plagued Liberia between 2014 and 2015.
