Birth attendants need house, tools to deliver babies safely

TEN village birth attendants (VBA) from five communities in Tairora-Gadsup and Obura-Wonenara, Eastern Highlands, need permanent houses and kits to be able to attend to women giving birth in villages.
The VBAs have been attending to local pregnant women using makeshift shelters and inappropriate kits making their job harder.
Yomunka community health board chairman Ayanti Biriba said: “Our need is to build five permanent VBA houses, refresher course to enhance VBA capabilities with appropriate kits and an ambulance that can serve women during complications.”
Biriba said the VBAs, two each from Onamuna, Maropa, Wopepa, Amomonta and Akuna so far delivered 16 babies and two referrals to Kainantu soon after attending training at Barola Haus Mama in September 2018.
“For 13 years without health facilities to cater for human life, we’ve been conducting immunisation programmes without government support until the inception of VBA last year and we need government’s help,” Biriba said.
Much of the assistance for VBA training and five semi-permanent houses were received from missionaries in Canada and USA in partnership with the clinic at Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa.
Biriba said their aim was to minimise infant mortality and morbidity rates in their locality comprising 8000 people.
“Though we’ve been conducting our work at a smaller place, we’ve achieved one of governments Vision 2050 goals in healthy population”.