Patricia found Judy bleeding early in the morning. Pregnant with her third child, Judy had gone into labour at home in her village in Kivori, in remote Papua New Guinea (PNG).
She was a four-hour drive away from the nearest hospital, in the capital Port Moresby.
Her mother-in-law, terrified, sent for the nearest available help, and Patricia, a Village Health Volunteer trained to identify and assist mothers during pregnancy and childbirth, arrived soon after.
“I stayed for some time,” Patricia says. “Judy’s water did not break until 3pm and then her contractions started and she delivered the baby, but not the placenta.”
Recognising Judy had a retained placenta and therefore was at risk of developing an infection, Patricia immediately called for a public motor vehicle to take Judy to Beraina health clinic.
This quick diagnosis helped Judy get the medical assistance she needed, potentially saving her life.
“I was so lucky I went to Beraina. At the clinic the nurse helped deliver the placenta [using oxytocin], then she gave me some medicine and I stayed overnight,” Judy says.
“I was so worried and I thought I would be finished.”
It is deeply unjust that in a country just 160 kilometres off Australia’s coastline, women and their babies lose their lives during childbirth, in terrible conditions and from causes that are completely preventable.
Yet this is the daily reality in Papua New Guinea (PNG), particularly for the 85 per cent of the population that live in rural and remote areas.
No woman should die giving life. Nor should any woman see the child she has carried for nine months pass away because she could not get the help she needed while giving birth.
The conditions in which women in PNG give birth would shock many Australians. Rural health clinics, where they exist, are rudimentary and lack even the most basic equipment.
Staff are often under-trained, and few in number – unable to cope with the vast health needs of impoverished communities. Doctors are in scarce supply. For many women in Central Province, where ChildFund PNG works, the closest doctor is a four-hour drive away.
Due to this dire lack in health infrastructure, most women have no choice but to give birth at home, and rely on traditional birth attendants to assist them.
The latter are without resources, and use whatever tools they have available. These may include sharpened bamboo to cut the umbilical cord, a used produce sack for the mother to lie on, and plastic bags instead of gloves.
