Safer Deliveries for Moms in Haiti

Shaladol is a 29-year-old mother of two from Lahoye – a remote community in the Central Plateau near the border with the Dominican Republic. After years of family planning, she decided it was time to expand her family. She delivered a health baby boy at Project Medishare’s maternity center in Marmont last month.

Shaladol had her first child 14 years ago at the young age of 15. She didn’t have the means to financially support her daughter, thus her mother became the child’s primary caretaker. Shaladol has been using contraceptives since then to ensure she didn’t have more children until she was ready. She and her partner now have their own home, and they felt capable of supporting another child. She stopped the birth control to conceive, and plans to resume it until she decides to have another baby.

The conditions surrounding the birth of Shaladol’s son were drastically different than when she gave birth to her daughter more than a decade ago. Then, she gave birth at home with the aid of a matron, a traditional birth attendant. There was neither a maternity center in Marmont nor a health facility near her home in Lahoye where she could receive basic prenatal care. Now, thanks to Project Medishare’s growing maternal health program, Shaladol not only received prenatal care at our clinic in Lahoye, when she went into labor around 1:00 am, we provided emergency transportation to our maternity center in Marmont. Without that service, Shaladol would have had to pay US$8.50 to hire a car for the 45-minute drive to the maternity center. Instead, she was able to save that money and use it to support her family.