The average woman giving birth in Senegal is 22 years old and will have 4 or 5 children. This high fertility rate is mainly a result of the continued desire for large families, early childbearing, and lack of family planning education. Unfortunately, 1 in 30 pregnancies in Senegal will result in the death of the mother or the infant within two years. Better healthcare is needed for expectant and postpartum mothers, as well as young infants while their immune systems develop. Contributing to this issue is the lack of adequate medical facilities, and expectant mothers and their newborns are cared for in rooms shared with patients being treated for diseases, viruses, and diarrhea, some of which may be highly contagious. Additionally, as a result of this overflow of patients, mothers are often sent home earlier than is advisable due to the lack of bed space.
Large disparities in access to maternal and neonatal care persist between large cities and small towns, which leads to undetected infections, improper home treatments, and chronic illnesses for mother and child alike. In particular, small villages in more rural areas are affected by this disparity as they lack the medical facilities to provide ongoing care to mothers and children, who may not be able to routinely travel to the bigger cities for medical care.
Our team in Senegal has been introduced to the village of Sassène by longtime friend Mr. Djybril Sy who has made us aware of the significant need to provide better maternal care in this rural inland town. The mayor is a retired doctor who understands this need well and has offered a plot of land near the local medical clinic in order to construct a facility specifically designed for mothers and children. The proposed facility will be approximately 1,400 square feet and includes a delivery room, two acute care rooms with a total of 5 beds, an examination room, a consultation room, restrooms, and a waiting room. It will be led by a midwife with nursing assistants staffed by the nearby medical clinic.
Budget
Building Construction: $65,000
Equipment: $20,000
Operation Cost: $15,000
TOTAL: $100,000
*Estimates and may be affected by inflation and import duties.
Please help us provide the proper care to these young mothers and babies so that they have an opportunity to see a better tomorrow! All the donations raised from our recently launched Senegal Maternity Clinic Project Fundraiser will go towards the funding for this project.
