Pregnancy and childbirth

Fieldset

Around the world, hundreds of women die every day from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Almost all of these deaths are in developing countries, and most would be preventable with appropriate medical care.

Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is helping to save lives and improve maternal health by giving women a safe place to give birth: maternity units that have high levels of infection control and specialist staff.

Many MSF projects also provide information about planning pregnancies and access to contraceptives to women who want them.

Sundas Parvez

Nurse

Pakistan: The miracle babies

Sundas meets a mother of quadruplets...

08 Mar 2019 / 2 minute read

Pippa Letchworth

Obstetrician / Gynaecologist

ER mode: My last patient in Nigeria

Pippa is an obstetrics and gynaecology consultant, recently returned from assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Jahun, part of northern Nigeria’s Jigawa state – an area where high numbers of women and children die during childbirth.

20 Dec 2018 / 8 minute read

Joanne Perry

Doctor

A midwife in South Sudan: “She will sometimes sing to them between contractions”

The majority of MSF teams are not made up of international staff from overseas. Instead, from conflict zones to epidemics, most of our medical and logistical teams are people working in their home countries, using their skills where they are desperately needed. Joanne, a Canadian doctor in South Sudan, celebrates one of our incredible local midwives.

19 Dec 2018 / 6 minute read

Pippa Letchworth

Obstetrician / Gynaecologist

Taking your hat off: A rare injury in obstetrics

17 Dec 2018 / 3 minute read

Sandra Smiley

Advocacy

“She has an incredible story to tell": childbirth in Peshawar, Pakistan

An excited woman waves at Sandra – a Canadian advocacy officer – inviting her into the delivery room of Peshawar Women’s Hospital in Pakistan. She has an incredible story to tell…

07 Dec 2018 / 8 minute read

Pippa Letchworth

Obstetrician / Gynaecologist

Bruised and battered: Obstetrics in Nigeria

Pippa is an obstetrics and gynaecology consultant from the UK on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Jahun, part of northern Nigeria’s Jigawa state – an area where high numbers of women and children die during childbirth.

23 Nov 2018 / 3 minute read

Christine Tasnier

Midwife

Ethiopia: “She named her baby Nyamire. It means decision”

Christine Tasnier is a midwife from the UK, currently working in Ethiopia’s Kule Refugee Camp – home to around 54,000 people fleeing conflict in neighbouring South Sudan.

06 Nov 2018 / 8 minute read

Kariantti Kallio

Anaesthetics

A first time for everything: learning fast in Bangui

With a patient bleeding heavily, Kariantti and the MSF team had to act quickly. He blogs from Bangui, Central African Republic...

09 Oct 2018 / 3 minute read

Kariantti Kallio

Anaesthetics

After the fight: Returning to routine in Bangui

After nearby conflict forced his MSF team to evacuate a maternity hospital in Bangui, Central African Republic, Finnish anaesthetist Kariantti writes about returning to routine in the days following the fighting.

01 Oct 2018 / 3 minute read

The triplets at Peshawar Women’s Hospital

Sundas Parvez

Nurse

Pakistan: Three baby girls and a proud mother

Sundas Parvez is a nurse in the newborn unit at Peshawar Women’s Hospital in Pakistan, where she has been working with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) since 2014. In this blog, she writes about caring for newborn triplets and the chance to speak to their mother.

26 Sep 2018 / 3 minute read

Lanice Jones

Doctor

48 hours on the frontline of maternity care

At a maternity project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it’s non-stop emergency medicine for Lanice, a Canadian doctor on her fourth assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF). She blogs about life, death and learning on the frontline of medical care.

24 Sep 2018 / 11 minute read

Brigitte Ireson-Valois

Nurse

Haiti: Providing tender love and care

"As we are nearing the final closure date of the hospital, we, the management team, are trying to make sure we have everything organized and planned for the final days..."

21 Sep 2018 / 3 minute read