Colombia: Improving Medical Care for Mothers and Babies

After five years working in the maternity ward of the only hospital of its kind in Choco department, Colombia, MSF is handing over the ward to the hospital. MSF succeeded in increasing the quality and volume of activities and reducing maternal mortality. There is a commitment from the hospital to continue with the services MSF has implemented.

A sign announces the main entrance of the hospital. Choco Department is one of the poorest areas of Colombia.

Many of the hospital’s patients come from areas like this, a Quibdo suburb called Villa de Espania. The majority of people who live here are displaced, called “desplazados.” This nurse is also from the neighborhood.

Patients come from a variety of backgrounds: most people are in the area are Afro-Colombian, but the hospital also serves indigenous groups who often live far away in remote communities deep in the rainforest.

Victims of sexual violence are now offered treatment at the hospital. “Nowadays we have a kit and any woman can come in, at whatever time, ask for the head nurse on duty, explain to them what has happened. They call the doctor and they carry out their laboratory tests,” said nurse Malania Raga Bejarano, who has worked there for 10 years.

Before MSF took over the maternity ward, Bejarano said it had water leaks throughout.

A 16-year-old patient is in painful labor. Her mother has come to assist her during the birth. They live together about three hours by public transport from the hospital.

After a long and exhausting delivery, she had a healthy girl. “In 2004,” said Bejarano, “we had 14 maternal deaths. This year, so far, we haven’t had a single maternal death and for me that’s the most important thing.”

Bejarano checks on the 16-year-old patient after she has given birth.

A woman in labor has her baby’s heartbeat monitored.

The local staff is trained by an Italian MSF nurse how to use the incubator in the neonatology ward.

An infant rests inside one of the incubators.

A new mother and father share a moment in the maternity ward. Today there are 46 beds in the ward and an additional 16 in the delivery room – an improvement over the hospital’s previous 22 usable beds, said Bejarano.

Mothers and infants attend the hospital’s antenatal care program.

A patient and nurse look out from one of the hospital’s balconies. Linens dry outside not far from the river, which is the only link to many of the isolated communities the hospital serves.

Colombia: Improving Medical Care for Mothers and Babies

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Colombia: Improving Medical Care for Mothers and Babies

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