Emergency time: caring in Congo
Reading, C.
Practising Midwife 19(1): 17-19
2016
ISSN/ISBN: 1461-3123 PMID: 26975127 Document Number: 686028
Midwifery practice in rural central Africa is full of joys (an abundance of twins, births by candlelight and resilience and stoicism that would leave even the very experienced birth practitioner speechless), but also a lot of challenges (every obstetric emergency in your wildest nightmares and worse) that are compounded by a lack of access to a skilled birth attendant. Women here have a strong culture of traditional practices and remedies, and hospital is often not the first port of call. Caring for women who cannot, themselves, consent to emergency life-saving caesarean sections, is a cultural aspect that we accept and respect as medical professionals working in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In a busy maternity ward in a low-resource setting, in a hospital supported by emergency humanitarian medical organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), just how are obstetric emergencies managed--and are the outcomes what you would expect?