MHF conducted a community outreach program and enrolled 31 out of 156 women for pre-and post-natal care on October 1st, 2022.Of the 31; 24 women delivered their babies with minor or few complications; 1 had a miscarriage (the baby died because of encephalopathy (brain disorder)), and 6 women delivered their babies by cesarean section (C/S). One of the mothers, Assumpta, who was delivered by C/S had five previous deliveries, but none of the babies survived due to lack of medical care; her babies were delivered by untrained women. Another mother, Gift, had placenta praevia with hematocrit (the volume of red blood cells to the total volume of blood) of 27% (the normal range is 36 to 46% for females), she delivered her baby by cesarean section.
One of the mothers, Helen, was nine months pregnant when she enrolled in the MHF program and was admitted into the hospital immediately because she had been leaking fluid due to a premature rupture of the uterine membrane. She was anemic with hematocrit of 23% andreceived two pints of blood transfusion. The remaining fluid was not enough to sustain the pregnancy; so, the doctors conducted a cesarean section and delivered twin boys. One weighing 6.1 pounds and the other 4.4lb. Our gratitude to God for saving both mother and the babies. Another mother, Rose, was five months pregnant when she enrolled in the program. The nurses discovered that her baby died weeks before she enrolled. The doctors immediately induced her labor and delivered the baby. Thanks to God she would have died without the MHF program and would be walking around with a dead fetus.
The mothers also received treatment for various health conditions. Examples of the conditions treated included but are not limited to malaria, hypertension, pyelonephritis (kidney infection), typhoid infection, gastroenteritis (intestinal infection with diarrhea, vomiting, and fever), peptic ulcer, urinary tract infection, and vaginal candidiasis.
Fourteen womenwere considered high-risk pregnancies because:
9 were first pregnancy.
1 had previous breech.
1 transverse complication.
1 previous cesareans section.
1 had a dead fetus.
1 had premature rupture of uterine membrane-leaking fluid.
Seventy-six sick infants and children received medical care for various health issues in 2022-2023. One child underwent lifesaving hernia surgery. Seventy-six children received medical care for the following conditions: malaria, sepsis, respiratory tract infection, diarrhea and vomiting, and pneumonias, boils, rashes, hypoglycemia, and neonatal jaundice, malaria, gastroenteritis, etc.
