A beautiful baby for Aisatou

Because of a mobile health clinic in her community, Aisatou is finally the happy mother of a thriving five-month-old baby. Both she and her child have access to life-saving medical treatment and medication made possible by ChildFund and the local Munafa M’Patie Federation.

But before the much-needed help arrived, Aisatou and many women like her suffered terrible losses. The use of traditional birth attendants, and a lack of pre- and postnatal care for mother and child, has meant that childbirth has always been dangerous. In the Bombali District where Aisatou lives, nearly one-third of child deaths occur during the critical first few months of life.

During her first pregnancy, Aisatou was in pain and taken from one traditional birth attendant to another. She says: "Finally I was taken to the Binkola Clinic where I gave birth. I suffered a lot. I was nursing my child when war broke out. I could not get help at the health centre, and I was using medicinal herbs instead. After some time, my child died."

When Aisatou gave birth a second time, the baby suffered from tetanus as a result of unsanitary conditions and an unsterilised knife that was used to cut the umbilical cord. Due to a lack of medicine as a result of the war, Aisatou’s child died at two months .

Following the end of the war, ChildFund’s trained health care providers began to visit Aisatou's village with a mobile clinic. "I got some medication and later became pregnant again,” Aisatou says. “My child here is testimony to this story. I gave birth to this child and have not fallen sick because of the good health education, care and food supply that I received from the nurse."