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In October 2024 Becca, a Consultant Midwife and Emily, a Perinatal Mental Health Midwife are going to Lira, Northern Uganda with Poole Africa link.

The differences between UK maternity services and health care in Uganda are stark. Many women in Lira Hospital wait for their turn to become a mother, though many succeed, many will give birth but go home empty handed.

WHAT IS IT LIKE?

Uganda like many African countries has a high preventable death rate from bleeding, a high rate of HIV and there is no access to any pain relief for birth. The care you have is based on what you can afford. If you can't afford a 'maternity pack' which includes a bowl and a plastic sheet, you will come to the hospital with nothing but the clothes you wear.

Emily's visit last year focused on mental health, in addition to the experience of women and their families, staff and students recalled their traumatic experience; "we see the most awful things, how can we care for someone else when we are broken?".

This visit will try and improve the awareness, recognition and management of mental wellness and illness using trauma informed care as a framework.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

There is so much work to be done, but everything that we do, makes a small difference. We will provide emergency skills and drills training as part of our core package. The teaching will make a longer lasting difference to the care that is given. We will also be supporting the university teaching, further developing the student midwives who will inevitably give better care and in turn will want better care for themselves.

FUNDRAISING

The previous trip successfully fundraised for scales so that we could teach the midwives how to weigh blood loss accurately.

This year we would love to fund raise enough money to buy hospital grade lights so that midwives can perform perineal suturing (stitches) with the ability to see what they are doing. Something so simple can really make a difference. We would also like to be able to provide teaching aids such as a doll and pelvis for the teams.

THE TEAM

We are going with a small team of healthcare professionals from UHD to teach clinical staff, including midwives and students.

Fund raising is a continuous endeavour to ensure this vital work can continue. In the past it has provided essential PPE, equipment, emergency equipment, oxygen and so much more.

Even a small donation will reach those that will really benefit.. so thank you in advance.

Becca and Emily

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