‘We put sanitiser on top of the blood’: what a lack of water means for midwives in Malawi
Women, unable to clean themselves after giving birth, are forced to rip off bits of mattress to use as sanitary pads
24 May 2021 • 10:26am
Midwife Eunice Kalimbira is one of millions of health workers globally in health facilities without access to running water
Credit: WaterAid/ Dennis Lupenga
There is no water available at Eunice Kalimbira s hospital in Malawi, so the midwife can t wash the blood off her hands after she helps women giving birth.
Instead, she puts hand sanitiser on top of her bloodied hands, hoping that will keep her patients – and herself and her colleagues – safe.
14 May 2021
One-in-five British women who gave birth in December were told to wear masks during labour, a poll suggests, despite medical guidance advising against it because it could cause “potential harm”.
The poll of 936 women conducted by the charity Pregnant Then Screwed and seen by BBC News revealed that some 20 per cent were ordered to wear a mask by medical professionals attending them at births, including 10 per cent having a natural birth and 50 per cent having a caesarian section.
This was against the recommendations laid out in a briefing document from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). Despite one in five women being told to do so, the RCM’s Dr Mary Ross Davie, who wrote the body’s guidance on mask-wearing during labour, claimed she believed such instances of women being forced to do so were “very rare”.
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The issue of partners not being allowed attend maternity service appointments and for long periods ahead of the birth of children is being highlighted by an advocacy group as some restrictions are still in place at some hospitals
Families seeking access for partners for maternity services are staging a protest at Sligo University Hospital this morning.
Earlier this week, the Chief Medical Officer stated that there was no public health reason for restrictions for partners to continue.
The HSE has been contacting the country s 19 maternity units to tell them partners must be allowed into the 20 week scan, births and neonatal visits.
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LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Britain should change the law so all working parents who miscarry get paid leave, pressure groups said on Thursday, after a clutch of companies began offering their staff time off after a lost pregnancy.
An estimated one in eight pregnancies ends in miscarriage - most in the first trimester - but women in Britain are currently only entitled to compassionate leave if their baby is stillborn after 24 weeks.
Action groups said that policy was inhumane and urged a change in the law forcing companies to recognise the toll - emotional and physical - an earlier miscarriage can carry.