Midwifery Training in South Sudan

Hi, it’s Jono & Destinee here,

We are NZ doctors helping run a Maternal Child Health program in rural South Sudan. Currently our clinic spends half of it’s budget bringing in staff from Kenya to tackle the horrific birth statistics in the region - including the highest Maternal Mortality Rate in the world. Our vision is to train up people from Tonj to build a more sustainable healthcare system locally. Freeing up funds associated with importing workers will also enable us to invest in further medical training. It's the first step in an exciting journey.

The photo above is of our friend Mary Amel. She's been working in our Tonj Maternal-Child Health Clinic as a Community Health Worker for the last 2 years, helping to deliver healthcare to the 17,000 woman and children who visit each year. She, along with another Community Health Worker named Isaiah Kuj (see his photo in gallery section) are eager to study midwifery. Mary and Kuj are both highly intelligent and motivated individuals, and we believe their hearts are in the right place. They have the potential to make a huge long term impact here, by caring for thousands of local ladies through their pregnancies and deliveries.

Mary grew up around Tonj, has recently been married to a local man Toni, and is eager to stick around to work with us long term. She is one of the few woman in Tonj to have the privilege of sitting and passing her High School exams - a prerequisite to midwife training in South Sudan. Kuj has also been brought up in Tonj, is engaged to a local lady, and is committed to helping improve maternal health in Tonj long term.

We feel like this opportunity to send Mary and Kuj to the Catholic Health Training Institute is a key step we need to take, and would love your support to get them there. Their fees cost US$3500 per year, which includes food and board. The course takes 3 years to complete, and the resulting qualification is a Diploma in Midwifery recognised by the Government of South Sudan. More info on the training college can be found at http://www.solidarityssudan.org/what-we-do/health-training-wau/

Through the generosity of friends and family Kiwis for South Sudan have already raised $14,000NZD towards this cause – now we are trying to raise the remaining $10,000. A handful of people doing creative fundraising activities each year could get them there, would you be one of them?

Please donate, and if possible click on the "Help Fundraise" button to organise a fundraising initiative among your friends - we'll help you. Clothes auctions, curry nights, bake sales or any other fundraisers are all welcome. 100% of funds raised will go to the scholarship.

About The Need

South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, and is trying to rebuild after the longest civil war in the history of Africa. As a result there is a huge shortage of functional health facilities and skilled health professionals. The most recent census of health care workers in South Sudan in 2010 found there were only 151 midwives working in South Sudan, to care for 12 million people! As a result South Sudan has the highest Maternal Mortality Rate in the world, with 1 in 50 deliveries resulting in death to the mother, and 1 in 10 mothers dying throughout their life from maternal health complications. The Government are desperate to train more midwives but lack the financial resources and training facilities to do so.