By Mustaha E. Dumbuya
Orange Foundation and Mama-Pekin Foundation have on the 7th February, 2023 briefed journalists on the Safeguarding Maternal and Neonatal Health at its Headquarters at Hill Station, Freetown.
The manager of Orange Foundation Finnah Stevens said that the maternal health for the preservation of the health of expectant mothers is a project that reflects the company’s commitment to contribute to social goals, thereby engaging and supporting sustainable development in Sierra Leone.
“Our company has strategy with health and women or girls forming its core as well as established a formidable partnership with Mama Pikin Foundation to reduce Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone,” the manager said.
During the past years, the Company’s consultations and interactions with Sierra Leoneans have revealed that Maternal Mortality is a very serious issue; hence the rationale for our company’s intervention Statistics showed that Sierra Leone remains one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR).
Manager Stevens continued that there are staggering figures of women losing their lives during pregnancy and these deaths can be prevented through a wide range of interventions of this Project.
She maintain that currently with one of the company’s partners ICAP of Columbia University they had identified Kroo-Bay as one of the communities with the highest percentage of maternal mortality over the years based on the Data from the Ministry of Health & Sanitation.
Orange Foundation and ICAP have implemented this project in that community for the past two years running and have recorded no maternal death since their intervention.
The manager reaffirmed that the project titled “Safeguarding Maternal Health” is community based driven approach and seeks to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to tackle risk factors associated with MMR in the Kroo-bay Community.
She ended that the project has contributed to the reduction in maternal mortality at Kroo-bay community through promoting the use of health facility maternal services, community health education, and early detection.
Doctor Fatu Forna Sesay, the Executive Director for the Mama-Pekin Foundation said that the commitment and goal of her Foundation is to help women, children and families in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Fatu explained that since the establishment of the foundation in 2008, it has been supporting the health sector like; clinics, hospitals, Training of doctors, midwives, and nurses.
The Foundation also introducing new medications and interventions to improve maternal and child health, supporting the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) to produce the first locally-trained OB/GYNs and Pediatricians in Sierra Leone.
She expressed that her foundation has given access to safe facility delivery to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths by providing delivery supplies of Bucket to every woman who delivers a baby at their supported clinics.
“My foundation has given out to over 15,000 buckets to women that delivered in any of our supporting clinics as well as placing some items in the bucket like; a Sheet of plastic, bar of soap Lappa to wrap baby to provide clean surface area for delivery,” she explained.
She thanked Orange Foundation for providing an additional support to mothers and babies in Sierra Leone.
Nancy Honor Kamara midwife at the Gray Bush community Health Center said that they were pleased with the initiative and thanked the Mama-Pekin Foundation for it good work.
According to her, since the time her center was included to the initiative they had be seeing a huge turn up of patient drastically.
She also said that previously, they had been referring pregnant women patient to other hospitals but since the intervention of the foundation that had finally stopped.
“The foundation has introduced to us two types of drugs and one of these drugs played like a magic as soon as you administered it to a patient, bleeding will immediately,” she explained.
Madam Honor Kamara thanked the foundation for saving lives of new born babies and women as for the past two years they have never recorded any maternal mortality death in their Hospital.
