Let me tell you a story about a young woman named Grace.
Grace lives in a small village outside of Ramu, in Papua New Guinea (PNG). During her pregnancy, Grace moved from her village in a remote mountainous area, to live with her mother in Ramu to be closer to medical assistance. Grace was lucky enough to be able to afford to go to antenatal classes with a trained midwife at the local health centre.
When Grace went into labour, however, she arrived to find the local medical centre closed, and in total darkness. Unable to pay their bills, the centre’s electricity had been cut off.
Two highly stressful and painful hours later, after a midwife had been summoned, and the centre opened, Grace’s healthy little baby girl was delivered. Her mother and sister took turns holding a torch for the midwife to work by.
Grace’s story of pregnancy and birth, while frightening to us, is not uncommon in PNG.
Grace’s story had a happy ending – she now has a beautiful little three-month-old baby girl. Unfortunately, many other women in PNG are not so lucky.
In Australia, access to safe and hygienic maternal health care services is an expectation rather than a privilege. However, currently in PNG only 36% of births are attended by a skilled health care worker and less than 30% of women have a supervised delivery in a health care facility – a situation that all too often leads to birthing complications and, sadly, death.