Project Launch: 12-21-18

Unite for Health Foundation runs one of its micro-clinics in a community in the central region of Cameroon called Eloumden. This micro-clinic recently benefited from a grant from World Connect that was used to equip and set up the maternity and delivery room where expecting women can deliver safely. As soon as the project was completed, women starting coming in for delivery services and after about 10 successful deliveries conducted in less than a month from the start of this service, it was realized that most of the women had never attended an antenatal health visit at all during their pregnancy. Most of them complained of the long distance they had to cover to go to the nearest health facility that was offering this service and some were ignorant of the importance of going for antenatal checks during pregnancy. With this, the clinic decided to start offering an antenatal service every Tuesday and Friday so that pregnant women could come for their health checks as well as receive health education about their pregnancy. With the immediate challenge of not being able to conduct ultrasounds during their medical checks, the clinic seeks an ultrasound machine to continue to develop its antenatal services.

Final Report:

With a World Connect grant of $7,904, the community organization Unite for Health procured an ultrasound machine for their clinic in Mbankomo, Cameroon. In the first six months, 165 women had at least one ultrasound screening during their pregnancy, a service that was not previously available to them. Out of this number, 15 pregnant women were diagnosed with obstetric complications and were referred to seek specialist care. All the women who were screened during the prenatal care program opted to know the sex of their babies and were very excited to discover this technology. Previously, most pregnant women in this community did not seek prenatal care during the course of their pregnancy. The presence of this ultrasound has attracted a high attendance rate of prenatal visits in our clinic. Additionally, the government has agreed to pay the salary of a long term technician to facilitate ultrasound screenings. Women pay a token fee of $6 for the screening which will be used for maintenance of the equipment, ensuring sustainability. 

“When I was told that I had a twin pregnancy, I argued because I could not believe that I could give birth to twins. I am so happy that they encouraged me to prepare for a twin delivery and this really helped me a lot. It was like a miracle to me and I thank Unite For Health for making it possible for me to benefit from this service for my very first time after having three children before this twin delivery.”