A Healthier Future for South Sudan's Families

Sharah was eight months pregnant with her fourth child when she arrived at International Medical Corps’ health center in Kajo Keji, South Sudan. Having travelled over 300 miles from her hometown of Pigir in Upper Nile State to get there, the journey was arduous, but one that ultimately may have helped to save her child’s life.

At the clinic, one of International Medical Corps midwives, Kenyi, discovered Sharah’s child was in the breech position, a potentially dangerous orientation in the womb that can compress the umbilical cord during normal delivery and cut off a baby’s oxygen supply. To help ensure the safety of both Sharah and her child, Kenyi advised her to deliver in our facility, rather than at her home where she had given birth to her first three children. 

When she eventually went into labor, doctors at Kajo Keji clinic had to do a caesarean section to circumvent the challenges of delivering a child in breech position, and Sharah successfully gave birth to her fourth child— a healthy baby boy.

For Kenyi, who is 25 years old, supporting mothers like Sharah is an everyday affair.

“On a daily basis, I help to deliver babies and provide antenatal and postnatal care, family planning services, and sexual and reproductive health care, including the prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS, clinical management for rape survivors, health education and awareness messages, and reproductive health training,” Kenyi said.

Like the majority of International Medical Corps’ staff in South Sudan, Kenyi is a member of the community he serves. Born in Kajo Keji County, Kenyi grew up in Uganda due to fighting in South Sudan, but returned home at the age of 14. After losing his father and siblings in 2010, Kenyi struggled to earn a living and decided to enroll in International Medical Corps’ midwifery program at the Kajo Keji Health Training Institute. Upon graduating in 2015, Kenyi applied for a midwifery position at the International Medical Corps supported Kajo Keji health center, and soon after, began his career as a midwife.

In addition to Kenyi, International Medical Corps has trained 220 midwives across three training facilities in South Sudan since 2006, of which approximately one third have been male. Trained in Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care, which includes newborn resuscitation, postpartum hemorrhage management and other essential skills needed to ensure a safe delivery, these midwives have gone on to help save the lives of mothers and their newborns across the country—which continues to face one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Midwives like Kenyi, who have joined International Medical Corps, have helped us to deliver 960 children in South Sudan the first three months of 2018 alone.

Before Sharah returned home, Kenyi shared important postnatal information with her on the importance of immunizations, exclusive breastfeeding, and family planning to help ensure that she could support her son’s healthy development.  

“It is for women like Sharah that I do this work—supporting them through pregnancy, delivery and beyond. Working with International Medical Corps has also helped me provide for my mother and young brothers and sisters, and pay their school tuition. I enjoy my job and plan to keep studying and training so that I can become an ObGyn and help many more women like Sharah.”

We thank the GlobalGiving community for their continued support of vulnerable families in South Sudan as we reach men, women and children with essential primary, secondary, and maternal health care services. For more information about International Medical Corps’ work in South Sudan, please see https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/country/south-sudan/