Kon Tum (VNS/VNA) - Old habits diehard, but Y Ngoc, 38, from Dak Sao commune in the Central Highlands province ofKon Tum’s Tu Mo Rong district is determined to make a difference in reproductive healthcare for women in her village’s.

“Being a woman, I understand how pained andworried women may be when they give birth. During this period, we need care andsympathy from relatives and experienced people. But most of the people believein giving birth naturally without assistance," she said.

Lack of access to healthcare duringchildbirth results in frequent deaths of both mothers and children.

An opportunity to bring change came to Ngocin 2009 when she was sent to attend a training course under the "Midwifein the Village" programme implemented by Ho Chi Minh City-based Tu Du Hospital.The popular programme has helped to improve reproductive health care for womenin remote areas in the Central Highlands by training women to work as midwivesto assist during childbirths. Designed by Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, director of TuDu Hospital, the initiative also provides the new midwives with necessaryequipment.

Midwives are taught to examine and monitorfetal development and assist in delivery at health clinics.

Dak Sao commune, where Ngoc resides, is oneof the most disadvantaged in the Central Highlands. Its population of about3,198 people are mostly Sedan ethnic minority people.

Due to the long distance from the communeto the district’s centre (about 33km), traditional medicine and beliefs havenot yielded to modern medicine.

Pregnant woman rarely go to health clinicsfor check-ups. Many people prefer giving birth at home; they think thatdelivery at health clinics is embarrassing because there are many peoplewitnessing the delivery. In addition, visiting the clinics is expensive.

“In the past, maternal mortality and childmortality were high in the province. There were difficult deliveries due tocervix problems. In other cases, the newborn could not breathe and then died orthe mother had hemorrhage,” said Nguyen Thi Dieu Anh, deputy director of KonTum province’s Reproductive Health Care Centre.

Many consequences were caused by deliveringat home without the assistance of trained health workers, she said.

Y Lon, a resident from Dak Sao commune,said that in the past, pregnant women didn’t receive any support from theirfamily.

Y Bop, another local resident, agreed:“Previously, when a woman had labour pain, some day do (red creepers) would bebrought home from forest which was then applied to make her skin smooth.”

“There would be a rope hung above for herto hold and she would kneel to give birth,” she said, adding that two or threeyears ago, such delivery practices were common and no one assisted the mother.

But everything has changed since Ngocreturned to her homeland as a village birth attendant.

Old customs have been replaced by updatedknowledge on reproductive health care skills that Ngoc grasped during her18-month training course.

“I provide counseling to women in thevillage on the risks of unsafe delivery. I advised pregnant women to visitcommunal health clinics for check-ups and delivery for the safety of bothmother and their babies,” Ngoc said.

Apart from performing antenatal care forand assisting deliveries, she also took part in communication activities topromote safer health practices in the community.

Ngoc called on local residents to usecondoms or other contraceptive methods so that their children would receivebetter care and they have more time for themselves.

Thanks to her efforts, the number of womenwho give birth to a third child has been reduced from 35 percent in 2009 to 8.7per cent last year. 

The rate of pre-natal check-ups increasedfrom 50 percent in 2009 to 93 percent in 2017, while the rate of delivery inhealth clinics increased from 20 percent in 2009 to 60.9 percent in 2017.

“Pregnant women now go to clinics regularlyto examine the fetus and vaccinate children," she said proudly.

With her contributions, Ngoc received thecertificate of merit from the Ministry of Health and was among 66 village birthattendants honoured at the ceremony for excellent achievementsin protecting and caring for maternal and children’s health held late last month.

Ngoc said she has delivered almost 100babies to pregnant mothers who cannot afford to travel to the nearest healthcentres over the past eight years.

She still remembered the first delivery sheassisted.

One day, a husband told her that his wifewent into labour. When she arrived, she saw that the baby’s head was going tobe out. At that time, she was afraid that the mother would be infected but shetried her best to help her until she finished the birth safely.

After that, the family was very grateful toher and she felt happy.

“At first, villagers didn’t trust me butthen some pregnant mothers gave birth safely with my assistance. They weresatisfied and trusted me more and gradually I gained a reputation,” Ngoc saidwith a big smile.

Theu Hai Xuan, a local resident, said: “Myneighbours have given birth with the assistance of Ngoc. My sisters also hadher support so I believe her. She is very dedicated.”

According to Ngoc, the biggest concern ofmost village birth attendants is that they haven’t received financial supportfrom the Government although they have undergone training and worked for a longtime.

Training courses should be organisedregularly with a view to enhance the knowledge and professional skills ofvillage birth attendants.

She hoped that the problems would be solvedso that they could make more contributions to the health care service formother and child.

 “Ilove this job very much. I will try my best to help villagers so that therewill be no more maternal and neonatal deaths.” - VNS/VNA