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Photo by:
Ariel Rubin, UNDP |
On
a balmy Wednesday afternoon in the
“North Darfur Midwifery Training
Centre” in El Fasher, thirty
young women listen attentively to
Reproductive Health Tutor Hawa Osman
Ushak, as she discusses the necessity
of sanitation when delivering a
baby. The women, dressed in clean
white garb, learn in detail every
step in the process alongside broader
concepts of pre- and post-natal
health services. Hygiene plays a
key role: sterilization practices
are crucial to guarantee that newly
born babies are protected from any
infection despite the challenging
environments where these mothers
sometimes have to give birth.
The training is supported by UNDP
Sudan as part of its community security
interventions in the Darfur region.
With funds from Canada (DFAIT) and
support from UNDP’s Bureau
for Crisis Prevention and Recovery
(BCPR), the initiative aims to respond
to the security concerns that the
communities themselves have identified,
thereby strengthening the social
cohesion between groups as well
as bolstering the relationship between
communities and state authorities.
The community security project is
one way through which UNDP and national
partners, help create an enabling
environment for the future reintegration
of ex-combatants in Darfur, while
controlling the proliferation and
use of small arms.
Community consultations conducted
in December 2011 in the Srief locality,
situated 45 kilometers from El Fasher,
the capital of North Darfur, revealed
that in addition to the significant
number of small arms remaining in
the community, serious deficiencies
in all areas of the community infrastructure,
especially health and education,
negatively affected the community’s
own sense of security and raised
anxiety about the prospect of future
conflict.
Today, the situation is much improved:
weapons are no longer publicly displayed
or carried but are kept secured
and their access requires the consent
of community leaders. Through UNDP
support, the community has been
provided with trainings on leadership,
HIV/Aids, voluntariness, peace building
and reconciliation. Other activities
have included the construction of
a community centre using voluntary
community labour and natural materials.
All of these activities have strengthened
the social fabric of the community,
according to the local Umdah or
traditional leader
UNDP is now supporting the training
of ten midwives coming from the
El Sreif area, where the current
lack of doctors and clinics dramatically
affects maternal and child health.
After extensive consultations on
the ground with the community members
of El Srief it was decided that
the training of midwives was crucial
in addressing the security risks
that young women faced walking the
long distances in their remote villages
to receive adequate medical and
reproductive health care.
In October 2012, after ten months
of intensive theoretical and practical
training, these young women will
become employed by the Ministry
of Health thereby ensuring the sustainability
of the project. By then, they will
have acquired the necessary midwifery
skills to be able to provide both
pre- and post-natal care services
to expectant and lactating mothers
in their communities of origin.
“The long distances that pregnant
mothers need to cover to be assisted
pose a great number of threats,
not only for their health, but also
for their personal security”,
explains Michael Juma, coordinator
for the UNDP Disarmament, Demobilization
and Reintegration (DDR) project
in Darfur. The deployment of these
trained midwives into their villages
will significantly help in reducing
maternal death, including those
dying because of pregnancy and childbirth-related
complications, in an effort to improve
overall maternal health care services
in North Darfur state.”
This project has been made possible
through the generous support of
the Government of Canada/Department
of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade(DFAIT)
and UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis
Prevention and Recovery (BCPR).
For a video of
the midwives being trained: http://youtu.be/1EKRttCrT6w
For more photos
of the training:http://flic.kr/p/cyGqY5
For more information, please contact:
Ariel Rubin, Public Information
Officer ariel.rubin@undp.org
http://www.sd.undp.org/ar%20stories/2012/Ar-Story002.pdf :للنسخة العربية الرجاء الضغط على الرابط
