The birthing culture in Uganda has been deeply impacted by medicalization. This has largely impacted traditional birthing practices and resulted in high intervention rates. In a villages where sanitation, medical facilities and supplies are lacking, high cesarean section rates, routine episiotomy and other interventions lead to infection and death. Without continued access to education and supplies, these practices put the birthing mother and her child at risk.
We offer educational workshops for midwives and traditional birth attendants, preventative care, birth supplies and assist birthing women in the gentle welcoming of their babies. Our approach to women’s health is holistic, comprehensive, preventative and empowering. We see this model as a basic human right and one that will foster sustainable, safe and peaceful communities.
Our goal is to lower maternal and infant mortality rates, reduce HIV/AIDS transmission rates from mother to child, improve access to education and supplies and honour every birthing woman.
The Shanti Uganda Birth House & Learning Centre
With the financial support of Off The Mat Into The World, the Shanti Uganda Birth House was completed in March 2010. Our birth house was built on 1 acre of land in Nsaasi Village, Uganda, is powered by solar and is run on a rain water harvesting system. It includes a community garden for birthing mothers, an outdoor workspace for the women in our Income Generating group and welcoming birthing rooms for local women.
The birth house is made with local building materials and will provides a safe place for women to receive care and birth their babies in an empowering, home-like environment where they receive nutritious food from the garden and continual support.
Currently many women in the community have no access to medical support when complications arise during the birth process. By the time they make their way on the back of a bumpy motorcycle ride to the closest clinic, it is often too late. Our goal is to lower maternal and infant mortality rates, reduce HIV/AIDS transmission rates from mother to child, improve birth outcomes and access to education for Traditional Birth Attendants and provide a safe and empowering place for women to welcome their babies into the world.
In addition to the women we support, we have also hired many of the local men to help run the birth house and support our work.
If you would like to help support the pre and postnatal care of women and babies at the Shanti Uganda birth house, become a Shanti Uganda Birth Partner today!
Midwifery Education
Our commitment to reducing maternal mortality goes beyond the doors of our own maternity centre. We regularly hold continuing workshops for Ugandan midwives and traditional birth attendants. Feedback from staff development workshops have been said to improve trust in the birth process and an improve confidence in emergency skills.
Birth Kits
The Shanti Uganda birth kits decrease the risk of infection and bleeding for both mother and baby. They are filled with the basic supplies a woman needs to have her baby with safety and health in mind and are used by the birthing women at the Shanti Uganda Birth House and maternity centres in Luweero District. Each birth kit includes gloves, umbilical cord tie, disposable razors and other necessary supplies for birth. The kits can be purchased on our website for $15
To date, we have provided over 75 safe birth kits to the mothers and midwives of Luweero District.
