Increasing supervised births and newborn care across Papua New Guinea
In PNG, 60% of births take place in the home.
Unfortunately, with home births in PNG, there is a 8-9% chance the newborn may die, and also a near 1% chance that the mother may die if something goes wrong.
If the newborn doesn’t breathe immediately after birth (within 1 minute), the baby needs help with breathing. To minimise blood loss at birth, the mother needs to get an injection of oxytocin within 1 minute of the birth.
To get this crucial assistance for mother and baby, supervised birth at a hospital or birthing centre is essential.
Birth dangers for mother and baby in PNG
| At home | Health centre | Hospital |
|---|---|---|
| 800-900
Mothers’ deaths per 100,000 births |
200-300
Mothers’ deaths per 100,000 births |
100
Mothers’ deaths per 100,000 live births |
| 100
Still-borns and newborn deaths per 1000 births |
40-50
Still-borns and newborn deaths per 1000 births |
30-40
Still-borns and newborn deaths per 1000 births |
You can never be certain how things go at birth. If complications arise for either mother or baby during a home birth, transferring from the rural village to a hospital may be difficult (or impossible) and potentially too late to save the mother or baby.
Incentives with The Mola Foundation
The Mola Foundation is a not-for-profit incorporated (IRC) foundation. To promote supervised births in PNG, incentives are a key driver to influence mothers and families to come to their local health facility.
We have started the following incentives in Simbu, Enga, Milne Bay and Eastern Highlands:
Waiting houses for mothers, and at times housing for men as well.
Locally made hardwood delivery beds.
Solar light and reticulated water to labour wards.
An emphasis on cooking nutritious meals for mothers with food rations supplied to participating rural health centres: 10kg bags of brown rice, cartons of tinned tuna, hardman biscuit and teabags.
Baby bundles that contain nappies, safety pins, towel, blanket, baby cap, baby booties, new sarong, soap and sanitary pads for mother, spade and 3 corner file for father for fishing in coastal areas.
The results have been promising
Across the supported rural health centres in Simbu, Enga, Milne Bay and the Eastern Highlands, supervised births have risen by an average of 80%.
For every additional 25 births that take place in a health centre — one newborn saved.
For every additional 220 births in a health centre — one mother saved.