What We Do

NEW MOTHER VISITS

The Situation before A Mother’s Wish

Many new mothers are teenagers who, due to local culture, move away from their mother and know very little about caring for a newborn child.

Our Solution

We provide each new mother with a complete kit of all the things that she will need for her baby; blankets, caps, acetaminophen, thermometer, dosing cup and mosquito net. The doctor or nurse visits them at their home to assess their living situation and explain the use of each of these items.

The Cost/Benefit

The visits have allowed us to identify infections on the mother’s incisions and illnesses in the child that would have gone undetected by the family. The New Mother Kits cost US$14 each.

A SUCCESS STORY

This story is also noted in our Infant and Maternal Mortality Analysis Report.

An example of the impact of this program is Maria Mariela Dominguez. Maria lived in Los Pinos and delivered her first child on September 15, 2007, at the age of eighteen. Our doctor visited her five days later and found the infection shown in the picture below. The hospital had released her with three prescriptions, including one for an anti-biotic. Neither she nor her husband knew which prescription was more important and they didn’t have enough money to buy them all. They didn’t buy the antibiotic. The doctor cleaned the wound and dressed it. After the doctor’s visit in the morning, we sent antibiotics and vitamins to assist in her recovery. Without that visit, she would have returned to the hospital with a serious infection and no one knows what the final outcome would have been. As it was, she recovered and was strong enough to breast feed her baby into a very healthy state.

A Video Clip Showing A New Mother Visit

Copyright 2008. A Mother’s Wish. All rights reserved.