A Maternal & Infant Health Care project is being implemented in the northeastern state of Bihar. This locally established project has received funding for 1 year (renewable for a second year) and aims to provide care for 1,000 pregnant women in 40 rural villages.
Jes & Michelle have been invited, as midwives, to join the local team of nurse, OBGYN, and driver to help implement this care & train local birth attendants - they are making plans to move, to Bihar in August 2010. As midwives, their role will be to provide holistic pregnancy, birth, & postpartum care and eduction in the villages. Their team will function as a mobile clinic, seeing 50 clients a day, 5 days a week. Over the course of 1 year, it is expected the medical needs of 5,000 women and children will be met. During this time, a health center will also be established in the area and 2 health workers will be trained to run it. Jes and Michelle are extremely excited to be uniting forces with local health care professionals and projects that are focused on providing not only physical assistance, but also life transformation & hope for the future.
The projected outcome is for the maternal mortality rate to be reduced by 50% during the first year, within these 40 villages. This goal is significant, as Bihar is within the area of northern India identified by the Human Right’s Watch and World Health Organization as having the highest maternal mortality in the world.
