Maternal Mortality Reduction Project with PIH

In the five years that Partners In Health (PIH) has been working in Lesotho, we have expanded comprehensive health care services to seven health centers and one hospital in the mountainous, rural areas. This year PIH-L scaled up a successful pilot program to improve access for women in these isolated areas to comprehensive pre- and post-natal care, and to delivery at health facilities with a skilled nurse-midwife. This year PIH added 450 community health workers trained to educate women about the importance of facility-based care during pregnancy, and accompany them to health clinics. PIH-L also built maternal waiting houses at six clinics, where pregnant women who live far from the health facility can stay to ensure they are close by for delivery. By connecting women and children to the health system at a critical time, this program is also increasing the number of HIV-positive women who receive services to prevent transmission of HIV to their children, the number of children who receive vaccinations and are screened for malnutrition, the number of HIV-positive women screened for cervical cancer, and the number of women who receive family planning.

In partnership with the government of Lesotho, PIH will soon break ground on a 100-bed hospital in Mamohau-- where women will receive care for free. In addition to increasing the number of people in the mountains who are receiving high-quality health care, Mamohau will serve as an emergency referral facility for all PIH-L clinics, providing emergency obstetric services and serving as a base for training and research activities. With the addition of Mamohau, PIH-L serves an estimated 235,000 people in rural Lesotho.

Lesotho by the numbers: This year, PIH has completed nearly 2,000 prenatal care visits, 460 deliveries at clinics, and 10,500 family planning visits.