Alice Waterman, midwife - sharing skills to save lives
Fourteen women die in childbirth every day in Sierra Leone, simply through a lack of basic life-saving and midwifery skills. VSO volunteers like Alice are helping to change this.
The challenge
In Sierra Leone it’s seen as quite acceptable for mothers to die in childbirth, so much so that it’s ingrained in their culture. In fact, they have a saying that being pregnant is like “Being between life and death.” Some women won’t even go to hospital unless they have been granted permission from their husbands. And if they do make it to hospital, the facilities are woefully inadequate. Many lack 24-hour water and electricity, and there is a shortage of trained surgeons and midwives. Many of these deaths can be avoided with simple medical knowledge.
The solution
Alice used her up-to-date midwifery and neonatal skills to help save lives by educating midwives in modern practices. She spent a lot of time observing how hospitals and midwives work in Sierra Leone. She was struck by how little midwives know about what actually happens during childbirth and how they lacked basic life-saving skills. Alice taught classes of around 70 students a day. There was no electricity so Alice relied on chalk and a blackboard to pass on modern midwifery techniques, as well teaching them basic maths so they can make accurate drug dose calculations.
The result
The training Alice has passed on to her students has saved countless lives of both mothers and babies. In turn, those students are now passing on their knowledge to others, multiplying the effects of Alice’s initial training. Although Alice is back home now, the legacy she has left behind in Sierra Leone will go on saving lives far into the future.
Challenge
In Sierra Leone, 1 in 8 women die during childbirth, the country has the world’s highest rate of death amongst women giving birth.
