AFRICA/SOUTH SUDAN - Safe delivery for mothers and well-assisted children in the new maternal wing of St. Theresa hospital, in Nzara

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Nzara (Agenzia Fides) - "A relief for expectant mothers who can now be assured of safe delivery in a hospital where both the child and the mother will be well taken care of", these are the words of the bishop of Tombura Yambio, Mgr. Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, during the inauguration of the obstetrics wing and the blood bank of St. Theresa hospital in Nzara.
Built in 1983 by the Comboni nuns to give assistance especially to lepers and tuberculosis patients, over time it has become the most important in the area. As a result, works for the expansion were fundamental already in 2018.
The Bishop advised the hospital staff to create more awareness of the working procedures among the community members in Nzara so that there are no misunderstandings and conflicts between the staff and the citizens. He called upon the community members in Nzara to own the hospital for good service delivery regardless of it being a church intuition.
Furthermore, Mgr. Kussala also assured the young people that the diocese is working hard to create conducive learning intuition as it hopes to open a nursing school soon. In this area of the equatorial forest, the maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the world. The main causes of maternal death are postpartum hemorrhage and complications that would require immediate access to obstetric and surgical emergency services. Infant mortality affects 64 children out of every 1,000, and a large number of children do not reach the fifth year of age. 32.9% of children under the age of five are underweight and of these 13.5% severely malnourished. Only 2.7% of children under the second year of age are fully vaccinated. In the town of Nzara, located in the equatorial forest and inhabited mainly by the Azande people, the hospital is also defined as a border hospital due to its proximity to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 17/6/2021)


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