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Health

Providing access to essential health services is one of the top priorities of the Zalala Foundation. When we first arrived, neither Supinho, nor Idugo had a health centre or any health facilities. In the case of Supinho, there is a health centre within a few kilometers. But in the case of Idugo, there were no facilities at all on the island and access to the nearest health centre entailed a long and hazardous journey across choppy waters. In response to the desperate pleas of local communities, addressing this situation and bringing health services to the people of Idugo has been one of the top priorities of the Zalala Foundation. As described in this section, over the last decade, the Foundation has been able to transform the health situation on the island making it the pride and envy of surrounding communities.

A Maternity Centre for Idugo

Until very recently, there were no health facilities at all on Idugo Island, which has an estimated population of 13,000 perople. Mothers, infants, the old and infirm could not make the long and often treacherous journey across the river to the nearest hospital, resulting in unnecessary loss of life.  Raising money and building a partnership with the district and provincial health departments to fund a health centre has been a key focus of the Zalala Foundation’s work in Idugo.

Prioritising maternity services

Previously, the vast majority of women on the island relied exclusively on the services of traditional birth attendants,  who lack the training and facilities to ensure safe delivery. According to the local community-based workers, there were many still births and approximately one in every ten women died of birth complications. In line with the expressed wishes of the local population, we decided to prioritise the building a maternity centre.

Japanese support

The Zalala Foundation submitted a proposal for support from the Humanitarian Grant Assistance Programme of the Government of Japan in Mozambique. In September 2020, it was approved and in December that year, the project was launched at a ceremony attended by the Japanese Ambassador in Quelimane.  The event was attended by community and local leaders from Idugo, the Zalala Foundation Team and Government representatives of all the relevant Ministries and Departments – the Health Ministry, Public Works department and the Department for Women and Social Services.

The local leaders expressed their happiness that the long awaited health facility on the island is finally about to become a reality. The Ambassador gave a rousing speech and spoke of his own experience growing up on a remote island with no health facilities and could therefore identify very strongly with the people of Idugo.

The launch of the project and the transport of goods to the site

The transport of materials to the island involved first getting them on trucks to the port of Supinho. Then, unloading the materials from the trucks and onto the dugout canoes that were used to transport them across the river to Idugo. The arduous task of rowing to the opposite shore was undertaken by Idugo boat-owners.  Upon arrival, men, women and children all contributed their labour to unload the canoes and transport the materials to the construction site.

Getting started

By early April, the work of construction was swiftly set in motion. Facilities were provided on the site and the building crew settled in and the work began swiftly and efficiently.

All hands on deck!

With the support of all the community – women, men and children – who each helped to transport the bricks, stones and other building materials to the site, the construction got off to a good start.  The women sang songs expressing their joy and happiness at the prospect of the completion of the long awaited maternity unit and their heavy loads seemed light by comparison!

Even the children helped!

Completion and inauguration

The maternity centre, which includes a solar powered water and electricity system, a waste incineration unit and a staff house for the nurses based there was completed in November 2021 and inaugurated on the 9th December in Idugo. The Ambassador of Japan spoke about his personal commitment to improving access to quality health services for people who like himself, grow up on remote islands with limited access to health and other services.

Despite some initial fears and anxieties on the part of women, the word has spread and now most babies are now being delivered in the maternity centre. Mothers and their babies have access to pain relief and the services of fully trained midwives, in addition to a traditional midwife if they wish. Mothers no longer have to endure giving birth in the outdoors. Instead they have privacy, clean bedding and time to recover fully before returning home.

Over the coming months, the Zalala Foundation will be working closing with the District Health Department to provide training and support to staff and local community volunteers with a view to ensuring  that women’s experiences and birth outcomes are optimised. We also aim to put systems in place to allow early detection of problems and recording of complaints from service users.

Please support our efforts

The needs of the Maternity Centre are ongoing. The Foundation is providing transport to the centre health workers to and from town weekly. We also need to recruit student researchers for a baseline survey and ongoing monitoring of women’s experiences with childbirth, including women who do not use the services of the maternity centre. Regular data-collection and analysis to be used for monitoring women’s experiences and outcomes will also be undertaken with a view to identifying improvements needed.   For these and other related activities aimed at providing the best possible services to the women of Idugo, we need your support. Please give generously!