Noeline Razafindradera, 16, wishes she had listened to the warnings of her mother and her teachers. Instead, she went out with one of the boys she met at school and became pregnant. After going into labour, she waited two days before leaving her village of Ambongabe and then travelled two more days by ox-cart to reach the Baptist Good Hope Hospital in the town of Mandritsara. By then, the baby was dead and it had to be removed.
Three months later, Razafindradera is back at the hospital for a procedure to repair an obstetric fistula - a severe medical condition in which a hole (fistula) develops between the bladder and the vagina, or between the rectum and the vagina - caused by difficult delivery. The surgeon performs the operation for a subsidized price of 10,000 ariary (US$5 dollars).
"Many young girls have this problem," said hospital director and surgeon Adrien Ralimiarison. "Girls as young as 13 become pregnant. The pelvis of the girl is too small, so during delivery the head of the baby gets stuck. As it takes a long time to reach a hospital, the bladder can then erupt. After the delivery, these girls are often rejected because of the smell of leaking urine and the additional expense of soap and pads. In some villages, people even believe that these women are evil. Depression often follows."
This is confirmed by his next patient, Rasoanirina, 21, who also developed the condition after a protracted labour and a three-day journey to the hospital from her village. "People reject you, they don't want to stay near you because of the smell," she said.
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Zafindraivo concentrates on saving the mothers, and says she succeeds most of the time. Nonetheless, figures from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reveal that the Sofia region has one of the highest maternal death rates in the country, with 1 in every 10 mothers dying during childbirth.
Nationwide, 3,750 mothers and 16,500 babies die each year during or soon after delivery. Another 75,000 women experience medical problems as a result of childbirth, and an estimated 40 percent of these women receive insufficient care.
"These are the official hospital and health clinic figures. We don't know how many die at home with the matrons," said Zafindraivo. "Often people prefer the matrons, as they think hospitals are expensive and they know these women."
Hospitals in the region, as well as UNFPA, are training community health workers and matrons to avoid delays in getting women in need of care during childbirth to a hospital. Dr Jean Francois Xavier of UNFPA said the goal was to reduce the three kinds of delay: leaving home, reaching a hospital, and finding care once they arrive.
Community training
"We try to shorten all this lost time by building capacity in the community," he said. "This includes training for the matrons, who are taught that a woman in labour should not see the sun rise twice. After 24 hours, she needs to be sent on to a health clinic or hospital. We also support the network of clinics and maternity wards, where women can deliver for free. There we train community health workers and provide kits for delivery and for caesarean sections."
This system worked in the case of Volasaina Ratongarizafy, 19, who is recovering from a caesarean section after coming by car from Port Berger, 122km to the south of Antsohihy. The midwife sent Ratongarizafy to the hospital after she had been in labour for two days, and she waited only an hour to be operated on.
UNFPA is trying to reach more young people with birth control. Madeleine Razanajafy, a health worker at the maternity clinic in Antsohihy said girls rarely used birth control once they marry. "Often, the husbands don't want their wives to use birth control… [they think] it opens the way to promiscuity [for the wives]," she said.
I can say many things, and I regularly do, but these girls are my ambassadors. They can tell their peers to be careful, to make sure that they don't fall pregnant |
In an effort to overcome some of the obstacles, UNFPA has built a special clinic for young people on the premises of the maternity clinic in Antsohihy, where it supplies birth control options that last several months, such as hormone patches, injections or intra-uterine devices (IUDs).
Local NGOs, like Vilavila, are also training young volunteers to talk to their peers about HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and birth control, while village elders lead group discussions with parents to try to counter the custom of trading young girls for cows or money.
"These parents are poor, so it's hard for them to refuse - sometimes they are offered as much as 2 million ariary ($1,000)," said Vilavila director Piantoni Rabarison. "We show movies and have discussions with them. Often, they admit they hadn't thought about the effect their actions could have on the young girls."
At the New Hope Hospital, surgeon Ralimiarison asks his patients to reach out to other girls through a radio programme. "I can say many things, and I regularly do, but these girls are my ambassadors. They can tell their peers to be careful, to make sure that they don't fall pregnant."
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions