Looming famine threatens the lives of 2 million pregnant women and new mothers in Yemen

UNFPA Yemen HNN Team

SANA’A, Yemen – Four years into conflict, Yemen has become home to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Over 22 million people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. Two thirds of the population do not know when their next meal will come. “Some days I cannot provide food [for my children],” said 28-year-old … Continued

A Day in the Life of a Community Health Worker

USAID Afghanistan Afghanistan HNN Team

SACRIFICING TO MEET NEEDS Shakila is a volunteer Community Health Worker at a health post in Enjil District, Herat Province. Every day, prior to working a typical 24 hour shift at the health post, she leaves her two-year old son, Mohammad Moshfe, with her mother-in-law. “Everyone is welcome here. Enjil is a poor district. It … Continued

In Sembabule, getting maternal health services is a nightmare

Daily Monitor Uganda HNN Team

SEMBABULE. It is noon at Ntuusi Health Centre IV in Sembabule District. The centre serves close to 60,000 people from Ntuusi Rural, Kyeera, Ntuusi Town Council, Nabitanga and Lwemiyaga sub-counties that make up Lwemiyaga County. Patients, caregivers and other guests are moving in and out of the centre. Inside the health unit, nurses and midwives … Continued

C-Sections Have Nearly Doubled Since 2000. That Isn’t Necessarily A Good Thing

TIME HNN Team

Nearly twice as many babies were born via caesarean sections (C-sections) in 2015 as in 2000, a new report says. Almost 30 million C-sections were performed globally in 2015, accounting for 21% of all live births, according to World Health Organization and UNICEF data published Thursday in the Lancet. In 2000, 16 million babies were … Continued

Trained midwives provide healthcare to Rohingya women

Dhaka Tribune Bangladesh HNN Team

BRAC University is providing a three-year course to train midwives to improve maternal and neonatal health services in Bangladesh Scores of midwives are working in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar to ensure health security, deliver babies and help young mothers. About 148 midwives, who completed a diploma course under the Developing Midwives Project from … Continued

Inside a Neonatal Clinic in South Sudan: ‘In Some Ways, It Felt Wrong to Be Here’

New York Times South Sudan HNN Team

JUBA, South Sudan — We noticed the quiet first. As we removed our dirt-caked sneakers, slipped on flip flops and entered the nursery in Juba Teaching Hospital’s newborn ward, a hushed tension washed over us. A bulb flickered relentlessly above the dozen or so newborns in the room. Many of the babies here weighed less … Continued

Born Too Soon in a Country at War. Their Only Hope? This Clinic.

New York Times South Sudan HNN Team

This baby girl has stopped breathing. She was born prematurely and is only 3 weeks old. Her mother, Restina Boniface, took her to the only public neonatal clinic in South Sudan. The country is one of the toughest places in the world for newborns with health problems to survive. Ten feet away sits a donated … Continued

Dying babies and no doctors: A look inside a Yemeni hospital

Yemen HNN Team

When Kenan was born four months premature, there were no doctors at al-Sadaqa Hospital to care for him. So his grandmothers tried to save him. They placed the infant in an incubator, but it was broken. They tried a second one. It wouldn’t heat up. It had been 24 hours since a doctor had last … Continued

Amid grinding conflict, Yemen’s midwives go to heroic lengths to save lives

United Nations Population Fund Yemen HNN Team

Hajjah, Yemen – “When the war broke out, I left my job in the city and came to Aslam,” Rawthah Ahmed, a midwife with 25 years of experience, told UNFPA. Her services are desperately needed in Aslam, a remote village in Hajjah Governorate. “There are no health facilities or basic services. People are very poor; … Continued

‘Sometimes the baby dies, sometimes the mother’: Life and death in Yemen’s hospitals

Washington Post Yemen HNN Team

The infant was barely breathing when his uncle brought him to the hospital in a cardboard box. He was wrapped in a blue towel, and wads of cotton were stuffed around his frail body to keep him warm. Muhammad Haithem was just hours old, born two months premature.His mother had gone into labor when an … Continued