IN THE FIELD

Chiulo Waiting Home

Africa, Angola
Nutrition For mothers and children
Chiulo Hospital is a 234-bed facility in southern Angola and the only source of healthcare for a population of around 200,000 people. We have been working here for many years, supporting the Maternity and Pediatric wards as well as the hospital’s overall management. In this context, we established a Waiting Home—a dedicated facility that accommodates pregnant women in the final weeks of pregnancy, ensuring they can safely access skilled care at the time of delivery.
Since 2014, we have established a Waiting Home (Casa de Espera in Portuguese), providing accommodation for women in the final stages of pregnancy—especially those living far from the hospital who might otherwise not reach it in time for a safe delivery. On average, the facility hosts about 73 pregnant women per month (nearly 900 per year), improving timely and consistent access to assisted childbirth. At Chiulo, the Waiting Home supports mothers living far from the hospital by ensuring continuity of care, clinical safety, and quality assistance throughout the mother–newborn–child care pathway. Through continuous data collection and analysis over the years, we have demonstrated that this approach reduces maternal mortality by more than 50%.        

At the waiting house in Chiulo

  • For mothers and children
    We provide support to mothers who live far from the hospital, ensuring continuity, clinical safety, and quality care throughout the mother–newborn–child pathway.
  • Nutrition
    In the waiting house, mothers learn how to care for their babies and are made aware of the importance of a complete and varied diet.
Supporting the Waiting Home in Chiulo means contributing to the operation of the facility by ensuring dedicated staff and providing essential supplies for daily care and accommodation, including the regular distribution of food kits to the women hosted there.