Four months on since President Alice Wells launched the Birthing in the Pacific Appeal for a second year, the project is making real progress in improving healthcare for women in Papua New Guinea during pregnancy and childbirth. Since September 2012, Soroptimists have raised $207,871(AUD) to support the project. You can read about how this money has made a difference below.
Three women per day die in Papua New Guinea due to complications of pregnancy or childbirth. Most of these deaths could be prevented if trained birth attendants and suitable health services were available. The Birthing in Pacific Project aims to reduce maternal mortality by providing appropriate training and equipment to birth attendants (including Village Birth Attendants, Community Health Workers, midwives and doctors).
Training for Village Birth Attendants 
In February, 25 Village Birth Attendants (VBAs) graduated after completing a three week intensive course to help them offer improved pre and post natal care for mothers. They came from remote villages surrounding Ramu and Madang – one of the women walked alone all day along rugged mountain tracks and wading through rivers to reach the training. They are tough and very keen to learn!
In isolated villages, often many hours travel from medical facilities, VBAs play a vital role in helping to ensure safer outcomes for pregnant mothers, providing care and identifying in advance where there is a high level of risk, so women have time to travel to a clinic. The 39 VBAs trained since 2012 have dealt with 106 pregnant mothers, 51 supervised births in villages and 55 transferred to health centre for expert intervention.
In the Programme Focus Report on the training, Judy Muliap of SI Ramu, the club that set up the training programme, reports: “First, a 1 week literacy refresher course delivered in tok-pisin identified VBAs level of education and prepared them for health care training in a Safe Motherhood and Being a Better Volunteer course. This 2 week training upskilled VBAs to use equipment to monitor pregnancies, recognise the need for expert intervention and use equipment provided effectively to ensure improved health outcomes. They were taught to maintain records and equipment to ensure safer outcomes for pregnant mothers.”
Training for Community Health Workers (CHWs)
SI Ramu is currently organising the 3rd training course for VBAs and also continues to support training for Community Health Workers (CHWs), working with the National Health Department. CHWs workin Health Clinics but usually have had no midwifery training, although delivering babies is a major component of their working lives. The first of 8 Maternal Health Competency courses planned for this year has just started at Mount Hagan Hospital; it is conducted by a SI Ramu member who is also a midwife. SI has contributed resources and sponsorship.
Community Mobilisation – reaching remote areas
At the end of February, SI Lae held the second Community Mobilisation, taking place over 60 days and covering 200km of mountainous areas. You can read about the first mobilisation in this blog by SI Lae’s BIP Coordinator and trek leader extraordinaire Meredith Tutumang.
The aim was to understand and document the maternal health issues facing the villages in these remote areas and mobilize the villages to respond at village level to improve maternal and child health. This trek means that the the entire Salammaua Local Level Government area in the Morobe Province has been covered; quite a feat as this data collection and documentation has never been done before for these areas.
Now that this vital data has been collected, Meredith Tutumang can organise VBA Training tailored for these populations, based on their specific needs, with the Health Department, whose officials will accompany her and conduct the training.
New Equipment: Birthing beds 
In February, two new birthing beds and other vital equipment purchased through BIP arrived at the Gusap Health Centre; both new beds were in use within a few hours.
Thank you to Janet Askern, Project Manager
Many people have contributed to the success of the Birthing in the Pacific project so far, but particular thanks are due to Janet Askern, who recently retired after three years as Project Manager. May Lamont, formerly Assistant Programme Manager, will take over the role.
Support the Birthing in Pacific Appeal
5 May is International Midwives Day and many clubs in SISWP are organising events on or around this day to raise awareness and funds for BIP as part of the “World’s Biggest Baby Shower”. SISWP are also encouraging clubs to send a donation to BIP as a “virtual gift” on Mother’s Day (which in many countries takes part in May); SISWP HQ are sending a thank you note to acknowledge each of these donations.
BIP is a project run in partnership with SISWP. Please send all donations to your Federation Headquarters. Click here for their contact details
Read More about Birthing in the Pacific
Download the 2012-13 BIP Appeal Leaflet
Images (top to bottom): VBAs graduate in February 2013, Meredith Tutumang on the first Community mobilisation trek in 2012, two new birthing beds delivered to the Gusap Health Centre in February, SISWP’s fundraising gauge.