It is a story of success, joy an above all life the one we receive from Tosamaganga hospital, Tanzania. It is the story of a mother, four births and a team of health workers dedicated to ensuring that woman and her newborns a safe delivery.
«Lucy, Luth, Lucas e Luciana were born premature, weighing between 2,2 and 3,3 pounds. Right after the delivery, the four twins were transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit. A 55-days-long adventure begun that Saturday. Low expectations, maximum efforts from all of us. We took care of the twins, we never left them alone, it was a team work in which everyone played their part: doctors, nurses and Pahima, the mother, an extraordinary woman, quiet, confident, caring and above all conscious. Five days after giving birth, Pahima suffered from complications that urged us to operate to avert the worst. Three days after the surgery, Pahima was back on her feet, close to her newborns. This mother’s determination contaminated each of us» tells Luca, CUAMM pediatrician at Tosamaganga hospital.
“Mothers and children first. People and skills” is the program designed by Doctors with Africa CUAMM to stand alongside the most vulnerable who are mothers and children. The program was launched in four sub-Saharan African countries with the twofold objective of ensuring mothers and newborns quality health care from early pregnancy to the second year of newborns’ life while also training qualified health workers who are the key drivers in the improvement of health systems.
«The day our patients were discharged, the whole unit was so permeated with joy that we took a picture to save a memory of this little yet great story which is beyond a tale, it is reality. We will keep taking care of them with post-natal visits during their first year of life. As for today, we want anything but celebrate this story».
Doctors with Africa CUAMM is committed to promote the program with the end goal of improving access to quality health care, especially maternal and child services, and ensuring its sustainability and continuity over time in 8 countries and 14 hospitals and surrounding areas.
