The health of Afar women is especially fragile. The maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is devastating, with each woman facing an exceptionally high risk of dying in childbirth. 

 

EDUCATIONAL BIRTHING DOLLS - PROJECT SUMMARY 2006

The health of Afar women is especially fragile. Female genital circumcision (FGC) is performed on almost every young girl, causing her to suffer multifaceted complications for the rest of her life. The maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is devastating, with each woman facing an exceptionally high risk of dying in childbirth. These women predominantly give birth in their villages accompanied by traditional birth attendants (TBAs) or relatives, and receive no or very little maternity care before and after the birth.

An Australian midwife, Valerie Browning, has been living and working to improve the well-being of Afar women for over 30 years now. She is a founding member of the Afar Pastoralist Development Association (APDA), which is a local Indigenous NGO that is instrumental in the development of health and education strategies for the Afar people, particularly through their work with women as a central aspect of a functional and healthy community.

One important aspect of APDA's work is the training of Women Extension Workers and TBAs from the community to enable them to take their skills and travel with their nomadic families.

APDA and Barefoot Initiative have a very close working relationship and a memorandum of understanding, where resources, lessons learned, knowledge and support are shared.

To support APDAs respected project that works to improve maternal and child health, 15 fetal dolls and 10 pelvis models were purchased and provided to APDA. These models are used as a training tool to educate TBAs on safer birthing practices.

The main objective of this project was to:

  •  Build capacity of TBAs
  •   Improve maternal mortality rates

cost breakdown - educational birthing dolls

  • 15 x Birthing Dolls
  • 10 x Pelvis Models

The total spent on the educational birthing dolls project was AU$1621.90