Hygiene and handwashing are integral to professional healthcare practice in the UK. It is astonishing to experience a society where this just isn’t understood to be a priority. In the hospital here there is usually running (cold) water, but soap is not often available. It is simply not seen as a priority purchase. The irony of the posters on the…
One day each week I am heading out into local communities to find out more about children’s health care in Malawi. Around this area there are a network of “under 5s clinics” which offer weight monitoring and vaccination services. These clinics are equivalent to our “well baby” clinics in the UK. I was involved in the provision of children’s health…
This week I have been working in the special care nursery at the hospital. A grand title for a simple room set aside for premature or unwell babies, where they are cared for by their mothers. The special care and intensive care baby units that I have worked in in the UK have had high staffing levels because of the…
My fourth week as a midwife in Malawi. This week I have been thinking about management of the placenta and the third stage of labour. This is the time it takes after the baby is born for the placenta to be born. In my hospital based training as a midwife in the UK, I almost always saw what is described…
Reflecting on optimal fetal positioning and mechanisms of birth. Explores the different experiences working in England and in Malawi