A WOW! e-Brief

Work of Women program @ World Neighbors

May 2007

 

Overview

World Neighbors and Safe Motherhood

 

Profile of Musangi Muvali, a Traditional Birth Attendant

Traditional birth attendants are almost always women, and in many societies hold a special status in terms of providing needed assistance to women and having knowledge about aspects of pregnancy and birth. In settings where traditional birth attendants are present, they can be a powerful resource because of the trust and status they have within a community. In many cases, they appreciate further training and are willing to think about how best their skills fit into the bigger picture of reproductive health education and service delivery.

Musangi Muvali is a trained traditional birth attendant from a small village in Kenya, called Kathome. She was trained in 1987 to support a mobile clinic that was started through the collaboration of World Neighbors and the Kenyan Ministry of Health.

Mrs. Musangi is approaching 60 years of age. She remembers that early in her work she used to handle many deliveries herself. When there was an emergency, this was very difficult because transportation to a nearby clinic was only available very early in the morning. Now the ministry encourages traditional birth attendants to urge women to give birth when possible at a clinic or hospital to help ensure that skilled care is available in the case of emergency.

With this shift in responsibilities, Mrs. Musangi continues to offer advisory services and to train young couples and mothers on some of the causes of emergencies occurring during delivery. The birth attendants also assist when a delivery is early and the mother is unable to reach a facility. Mrs. Musangi now assists an average of seven deliveries a month.

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The mobile clinic project was initiated by World Neighbors in consultation with the Ministry of Health and World Neighbors local partner Kitui Development Centre. Walking through the clinic, Mrs. Musangi states that their first mobile clinic day, which was held in 2002, was attended by fewer than 10 women. The number has since grown to more than 100 women per day. Women come to weigh their babies, access prenatal care, receive advice on post-natal services and to get medication at affordable cost.

Mrs. Musangi says that her main responsibilities are to provide care to newborns and mothers within the first 24 hours of delivery, and if possible, during the subsequent five to seven days. She checks especially for any complications that may arise for both the mother and the newborn. She also provides counselling to mothers on breastfeeding, dietary needs, hygiene and other general health practices. In addition, she educates mothers on the need to immunize their babies and care needed for newborns.

Mrs. Musangi says that through the trainings on the different methods and ways of assisting expectant mothers she has improved her knowledge and skills. For example, she says that she is now more hygienic in her work than she was in previous years. With her improved skills she now offers her services to more mothers, so she earns a few extra shillings that supplement the income from her farm. From this meagre income as a traditional birth attendant, she has been able to raise and educate her children. Almost all of her children have been through secondary education with some attaining college education.

Another accomplishment that she shares is that she has been training other women as traditional birth attendants, and now they too are able to earn a living from the work. “This initiative has helped me support my family in many ways including providing food for them as well as providing delivery assistance to hundreds of families. I’m always happy to meet with some of the children I helped deliver and some are big enough now to even help me in some of the work we do,” she chuckles.

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Mrs. Musangi hopes to continue offering services to the community, and in the near future to train one of her family members to succeed her. She also anticipates that the community will be able to improve their standard of living with proper family planning. This will ensure the minimal resources they have available will be put into better use.

Mrs. Musangi is grateful to World Neighbors for the support they offered and training given to the traditional birth attendants. They have been able to improve community health services greatly due to this training received.

 

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