Midwife programme makes a difference
The programme, designed by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, Director of the Tu Du Hospital and the President of the Poor Patient Assistance Association, trained midwives for assisting childbirths in remote areas and provided them with necessary equipment.
Midwives were taught to examine and monitor fetal development and assist in delivery at health clinics.
Under the project, funded by the French NGO IPPS, the hospital trained 374 students, mostly local women and health staff from 29 ethnic minority groups, in midwifery.
"Villagers who have benefited from the project are happy and grateful to midwives for helping them get rid of old habits. Pregnant women now go to clinics regularly to examine the fetus and vaccinate children," Luong Thi Ngoc Thuy, a midwife said.
Giving birth under the bed, severing the umbilical cord with a tree bark and bathing new born children in a spring were some of the old and superstitious customs practised by many ethnic minorities, resulting in frequents deaths of both mothers and children.
"Being a woman, I understand how painful and worried the women are when they give birth. During this period, we need care and sympathy from relatives and experienced people. But most of the people believe in giving birth naturally without assistance," said Kpa H’ Bin in IaKhe Commune, Ayun Pa District, of the Central Highlands
According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Health, there are about 165 cases of pregnant women dying nation-wide from lack of health care or carelessness every year. The rate is higher in remote areas where old habits and customs continue to be followed.
The project, according to Vu Dinh Loan, Director of the Reproductive Health Department , at the Ministry of Health, has helped to reduce infant mortality at birth.
"The programme should be continued to improve the skills of midwives so as to help them serve the community better," he added.
