Saving and transforming the lives of women and girls is a leitmotif for UNFPA. The organization works to achieve this goal in both development and emergency contexts. The Lake Chad region is known to be a high-risk area for conflict. The people who live there are exposed to humanitarian risks, particularly natural disasters and violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups. With financial support from KOICA, UNFPA has been able to deploy a midwife and provide the Ngarangou health center with reproductive health products.
Good indicators for prenatal consultations and assisted deliveries
Thanks to the midwife, who raises awareness among the women, they have understood the need for antenatal consultations.
Every morning, before we start, I give educational talks to explain how important it is for a pregnant woman to have an ANC. By repeating the exercise all the time, these women have come to realize this and now I'm doing more than 400 antenatal consultations a month.
explained by Mariam Abdraman Oudah, the midwife at Ngarangou. These women systematically go to the health center for deliveries, where they are cared for by the midwife, who provides them with the necessary assistance. These improved indicators for ANC and assisted childbirth are vitally important, as they contribute to achieving the goal of zero avoidable maternal deaths.
Since I've been at Ngarangou, we haven't recorded a single maternal death. ANC enables me to assess how the pregnancy is progressing and to anticipate any complications at the time of delivery.
mentioned by the midwife.
Improving the health of mothers and children through family planning
With financial support from KOICA, UNFPA has provided all the health centres on the lake with reproductive health products, in particular modern contraceptive methods. These products, given free of charge to women who wanted them, enabled them to plan the births of their children and to choose when to conceive. They were able to appreciate the importance of family planning for their health and that of their children. A UNFPA mission visited Ngarangou and heard the testimonies of many of these women, who expressed their satisfaction with the impact of family planning on their lives. Kakani Abakar, a 30-year-old mother of 4, gave her testimony:
Before, I often got pregnant when my child was barely two years old. This became extremely difficult for both myself and my child. We were both often ill and suffered deeply. Since I started using modern methods of contraception, I no longer got pregnant by chance. Family planning gives me the opportunity to look after my child properly and to have the choice to decide when to have another. It keeps me and my child healthy.
