Al-Tuhayta - Hodeidah

Maternity Emergencies Save Lives in Al-Muteena, At-Tahita

Adel Otman - Thursday, 11 April, 2024

"I was afraid of giving birth in the 'hut', we don't have money to go to the hospital," was one of the fears that plagued the young woman Yisra... throughout her pregnancy.

 

Since Yisra learned that she was pregnant with her first child, she was afraid of the day of delivery and was afraid of losing her life that day. She is forced to give birth at home because her family's poverty and her husband's illness prevent her from being transported to the hospital.

 

Yisra suffered a lot because of her pregnancy, in addition to what she already suffers from due to malnutrition, as pregnancy exhausted her thin body, but what she heard from the women of the village about the dangers of childbirth worried her a lot, as they often talked about women being exposed to serious complications during childbirth, whether bleeding, death of the fetus, or the mother.

 

Yisra, 25, a worker living in the Al-Muteena area in At-Tahita Directorate, Hodeidah Governorate, is a remote area that has been severely affected by the war in recent years.

 

Midwife Alia Khalil says, "Mothers here face difficulty in accessing health facilities, and during childbirth they either give birth at home or go to distant facilities, and are exposed to the risk of bleeding, uterine rupture, or fetal suffocation."

 

The Al-Muteena Health Unit was one of the health facilities targeted by the National Foundation for Development and Humanitarian Response (NFDHR) as part of the activities of the project to provide response in the fields of health, nutrition, water, and environmental sanitation and hygiene in emergencies for displaced persons, migrants, and host communities at risk in At-Tahita, Al-Salif, and Al-Manira directorates, supported by the Yemen Humanitarian Fund (YHF).

 

In addition to rehabilitating and operating the Al-Muteena Health Unit, NFDHR equipped a delivery room attached to the unit and equipped it with obstetric supplies and tools, due to the great need for emergency obstetric services in the area.

 

Yisra was following up her pregnancy at the unit, and she hoped that the delivery room would be equipped before her due date.

 

Midwife Alia, who works at the Al-Muteena Health Unit and has been following Yisra's case since the beginning of her pregnancy, confirms, "Yisra was very afraid of the day of delivery. I reassured her that her fetus's position was stable and there were no problems to be afraid of."

 

In December 2023, Yisra arrived at the unit alone on foot, after she felt labor pains. She was very tired and in severe pain and afraid of any emergency. Midwife Alia received her and started examining her with an ultrasound device to make sure of her health and the position and heartbeat of her fetus, and she prepared her for delivery.

 

Yisra was the first woman to give birth at the Al-Muteena Health Unit. She received safe and free emergency obstetric care under the supervision of a trained midwife and gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

 

Yisra said, "I was afraid of giving birth at home, we don't have the money to go to the hospital, we are poor and my husband is sick. Thank God I gave birth at the health unit without any trouble and I went home."

 

For Yisra and the rest of the women in the area, the presence of emergency obstetric services at the health unit is a major achievement, and it will serve all pregnant women, and women will not be forced to give birth at home and bear the risks of unsafe childbirth