The little creature is lying on its mother's belly. The midwife has wrapped it in fresh, warm cloths. It has closed its eyes and is sleeping. No wonder - such a birth is exhausting and both child and mother have to recover first. The father stands happily but also exhaustedly next to it, looks at the little crumpled human and will now also lie down for a while: He knows that his two loved ones are in good hands here.
These are situations that gynecologist Titania Eberle is familiar with from her work in a hospital in Germany. She is correspondingly shocked when, during an Artemed mission in our partner clinic St. Walburg’s Hospital(Tanzania), she had to watch a newborn baby simply being left alone in its crib. The image is engraved in her mind and she initially finds it difficult to carry out her gynecological work.
The fact is that of the 140 babies born every minute worldwide, only very few are received with such good care. Assistance during delivery, routine examinations in the first minutes of life and support for mother and child in the weeks after birth are only available in well-developed countries. Yet it is precisely this support - from pregnancy to birth to the postpartum period - that is crucial to preventing complications, ensuring that the infant thrives properly, and helping women recover quickly. This all-round care is largely responsible for the fact that in countries like Germany, for example, both maternal mortality and infant mortality are extremely low by global standards. Research shows that good midwifery care can lead to fewer premature births, fewer medical interventions during childbirth, shorter hospital stays and longer and more frequent breastfeeding.
One of the main goals of Artemed Stiftung is to reduce maternal and infant mortality in our project regions. To this end, we support the training of local midwives both in national institutions and by sending well-trained German midwives, nurses and gynecologists to train local staff. We are working intensively on this, for example, at the Mother and Child Center in Bogale (Myanmar) and in the obstetrics department at St. Walburg’s Hospital in Tanzania. Our thanks go to the dedicated women who look after the expectant mothers and their babies, save many lives and carry out one of the most important professions in the world for us.
