PNG's East New Britain Province reduces mortality at child birth

​PROGRESS has been made in reducing the number of mothers and babies dying in West New Britain (WNB), Papua New Guinea  but the aim is to have zero deaths, says midwife Getrude Pochie.
Pochie, the secretary of the WNB midwifery chapter, said this was possible because the province had scored zero maternal mortality in 2018.
“No mother died while giving birth that year,” she said.
“This goes to show the great efforts by the midwives and health workers in the province.
“We are trying to engage more with the rural health facilities and have the midwives and nurses participate in learning programmes such as this.”

Pochie is in Port Moresby with vice-president Helen Baule of the WNB midwifery chapter and 20 other members of the Papua New Guinea Midwifery Society (PNGMS) forfourth national symposium that started on Wednesday and finish today.
More than 200 midwives from around the country attended.
She said from WNB, the midwives who came included two from the New Britain Palm Oil Ltd, nine from the hospitals, 10 from the public health division and one was a village health volunteer.
The symposium theme was “impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) on maternal, new-born and child health” and included 14 research presentations, three case studies and a presentation on village birth attendant.

The National / PNG Health Watch

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