Richmond, VA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/10/2014 -- Midwives For Haiti, a Richmond, VA based non-profit organization, launched a new Postnatal Care Program at Ste. Therese Hospital to increase the percentage of mothers and infants receiving critical postpartum care from 1% to 100%.

In partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Health and Population (MSPP), Rockin’ Baby and Haiti’s Kidz, the launch of the Postnatal Care Program at Ste. Therese Hospital (STH), a high-volume MSPP referral hospital in the Central Plateau of Haiti, fills a critical gap in the continuum of maternal care required to ensure safe motherhood and newborn survival.

Haiti has the highest rates of maternal, infant, and under-5 mortality in the Western Hemisphere. This can be partly attributed to a lack of skilled care available for the full reproductive needs of its population. Postnatal care programs, as acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO),are among the weakest of all reproductive and child health programs in many developing countries.

At Ste. Therese Hospital, it was estimated that less than 1% of all patients who birthed at the hospital returned to receive postnatal care. The remaining 99% of mothers and babies who birthed at STH remained vulnerable to death or disability secondary to lack of postnatal care by a skilled health professional. Postpartum care can mean the difference between life and death for both mother and baby.

About Midwives For Haiti
Midwives For Haiti educates Haitian nurses to become Skilled Birth Attendants in order to scale access to midwifery care in Haiti quickly. MFH leverages international volunteers to support the didactic and clinical training of its students. The program has graduated seventy-one SBAs since 2006 and another seventeen students, the seventh class, will graduate in March 2015.

In addition to their education program and newly launched Postnatal Care Program, Midwives For Haiti is increasing access to critical maternal and infant healthcare by operating a Mobile Prenatal Clinic that provides maternal care to twenty rural villages in the Central Plateau. The organization also supports the maternity center at St. Therese Hospital, which is the site of their clinic training, by supplementing supplies and paying ten staff SBAs, all graduates of their program, to provide round-the-clock care to the women of Hinche, Haiti.

Contact:

Midwives For Haiti
7130 Glen Forest Dr Ste 101, Richmond, VA 23226
Summer Aronson, Communications Director
saronson@midwivesforhaiti.org
(804) 662-6060 x4105
http://www.midwivesforhaiti.org