Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood Without Fear

HHA's first South Sudanese health facility opened last year - a key goal for HHA since we were called to respond to the needs in South Sudan in 2016. New Hope Health and Disability Care Centre Kajo-Keji is a community health clinic with some key priorities. With refugees now returning to their homes in Kajo-Keji, but finding that the number of operational health facilities is now even lower than before the war, the needs of the most vulnerable were not being met. New Hope focusses on proving basic maternal and infant health services along with disability care and emergency care such as maleria trearment. It delivers some of these services in partnership with out larger facilities in BidiBidi refugee settlement, Uganda, to ensure continual healthcare for vulnerable refugees returning home. 

The clinic employs a midwife who provides pre and post natal support for pregnant women, identifing potential dangers and referring to the government hospital when needed. Although the clinic is not intended as a birthing centre, when a mother recenlty arrived in the final stages of labour, the staff responded and safely delivered the first baby born at New Hope Kajo-Keji - a healthy little girl. Congratulations to the mother and also the staff who did a great job with the unplanned delivery.

It was a blessing that the clinic had recently been fitted with clean running water and electricity - something that wasn't available during the first few months of operation. These improvements have made maintaining cleanliness and working ouside of daylight hours, much easier. 

Thanks to recent successful fundraising initiaitves, we hope to keep improving services at New Hope so that more mothers can access support in their own community - mothers like Wudu who came to New Hope with her 22 month old child who was showing signs of malnutrition. They had previously access nutritional support through another international organisation who has recently pulled out of the region. Wudu had been relying on locally available vegetables to feed her child but it wasn't enough. Thankfully Wudu heard about New Hope and was able to find the support her child needed.  

Thank you for supporting our maternal and infant health projects, making a difference to the mothers of Kajo-Keji, like Wudu, as they attempt to rebuild their lives following years of war.