Maternity waiting home for pregnant women at risk
Women’s Hope International has been supporting the maternity waiting home at the Attat Hospital since 2010. The hospital is located 17 kilometers outside the town of Welkite.
Goal
Women with a high-risk pregnancy deliver safely. Maternal and infant mortality rates are significantly reduced in the project area.
Overview
High-risk pregnancies require closer medical supervision, because there is a high probability that complications will occur during pregnancy or in the course of birth. In the project region, however, less than a quarter of pregnancies and births receive professional care. In case of complications, many women do not reach a hospital in time because the distances are long and transport is difficult due to poor road conditions. In the waiting house at Attat Hospital in Welkite, women with a high-risk pregnancy can stay weeks before their due date so that they can access professional obstetric care without delay if complications arise.
What we do
The waiting house at Attat Hospital provides 44 beds for women with a high-risk pregnancy. This is where women can come to spend the last few weeks before giving birth. This approach has the following advantages:
Medical care is available around the clock. Immediate response in case of complications
There is daily contact with health staff who sensitise the women in health courses on topics related to pregnancy and birth.
Women's Hope also supports Attat Hospital with the purchase of new equipment, such as a foetal monitor. This enables the hospital to expand its gynaecological services.
Our goals
Pregnant women with a high-risk pregnancy receive the medical treatment their situation requires without delay.
By using newer technologies and equipment, health workers can treat women optimally, both before, during and after birth.
Communities are sensitised and more high-risk pregnancies are detected in time.
Sustainability
Women who have experienced a safe birth thanks to the waiting house return to their communities as health promoters after their stay. Through daily contact with the midwives and the health courses, they are sensitised to pregnancy-related issues and pass on the knowledge they have acquired to family members, neighbours and acquaintances.
Join us in giving more women the chance to have a safe birth! Thank you very much for your support.
Project Insights
Cover picture: Women with high-risk pregnancies at the Attat waiting home, Image: Hanspeter Baertschi
Picture in article: Young couple at the Attat waiting home, Image: Hanspeter Baertschi
Overview:
Country:
Ethiopia
Period:
1.01.2021-31.12.2024 (Updates on the new project phase will follow in January 2025).
Local partner organisation:
Attat Hospital
Target groups:
Women with a high-risk pregnancy, health workers, family members of women with a high-risk pregnancy
Beneficiaries:
Annually approx. 1100 women with a high-risk pregnancy
Project location: Welkite, Ethiopia
Local partner: The Attat Hospital
The Attat Hospital is the only hospital for about one million people from a catchment area of 100 kilometres and the reference hospital for 43 health centres that refer patients.
