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In the rural and mountainous Khandachakra Municipality of Northwestern Nepal, residents face many challenges to accessing maternal health services. Khandachakra Municipality is in a remote and resource-poor region, where the low quality of roads makes it challenging to reach major health facilities. This highlights the key role of local health posts in delivering accessible and quality services. HealthBridge is working with our partner International Nepal Fellowship (INF) to respond to the sexual, reproductive, maternal and child health (SRMCH) needs in the Khandachakra Municipality.
A lack of skilled health workers at health posts was identified as a barrier to maternal health services. Limited access to training for health workers creates gaps in maternal health care, making quality services unavailable to many pregnant women at local health posts. Due to a lack of skilled health workers to provide delivery services in local health posts and the challenges of traveling to other health facilities such as hospitals or birthing centers, where skilled delivery services are available, many women continue to give birth at home.
Rupa Tamang* is a 26-year-old nurse who attended a two-month skilled birth attendant (SBA) training provided by the project. SBA training for staff in isolated locations ensures that safe delivery services are available even in remote facilities that are difficult to reach. Rupa has worked as a government health worker for over four years now, in some of the remotest regions of Nepal. For the last two years she has provided services at the Pankha Birthing Center in Khandachakra Municipality which is remote and far from road access.
The SBA training has strengthened Rupa’s dedication to serving the health needs of the community. In the months since she received the training, she provided delivery services to over twenty pregnant women. The training has also prepared Rupa to identify risks during pregnancy, as a result she has referred two complicated cases to the district hospital and one serious case to the provincial hospital. Further professional opportunities emerged for Rupa as a result of the SBA training, making her eligible for additional Rural Ultrasound (R-USG) training, which further enhanced her ability to care for expecting mothers.
In addition to the SBA training, the project also provided the health care facilities in Khandachakra Municipality with essential medical equipment and supplies. This medical equipment along with a skilled team of health workers has improved quality of timely health care services for mothers in the region. Rupa happily shared:
The project has made a great investment in the Pankha Birthing Center and women and adolescents are now receiving SRMCH services effectively. This is also a great opportunity for me as a health worker to contribute to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by offering skilled care at every birth.
Original Story By
Nabin Budha, INF Team Leader
Padma Hitan, INF Project Officer
*Not a real name
