Written by Annie, a midwife at In Deed And Truth Ministries

Medical emergencies have been so rampant this month in our clinic, especially in our ANC. I saw two ladies recently with serious conditions, Akon Deng from Malualmok village and Amon Det from TimTok. Akon arrived having Ante-partum hemorrhage,very anemic ,even going into shock. We started our emergency care immediately and managed to stabilize her.

Amon Det had obstructed labor and had been laboring for the last 24 hrs at home. She was brought to the clinic in a very bad state. On examination,there was intra Uterine fetal Death (I.U.F.D).

Both women were referred for surgery to a hospital in Wau about 5 hrs drive from our clinic and we assisted them with our ambulance. In our follow up we heard Akon survived but she lost her baby before delivery. Sadly Amon did not make it, she had a cesarean but passed away the next day.

Please pray for the families of these two ladies and in general for the pregnant women and for improved maternal health.

South Sudan holds one of the worst maternal mortality ratios in the world at 2,054 deaths per 100,000 live births. That means that 1 out of every 48 babies who are born alive loses their mother at birth. In the United States that statistic is 8 deaths per 100,000, or 1 out of every 12,500. That the average woman in South Sudan experiences 7 pregnancies in her life makes this reality even more dire, statistically, 1 of every 7.5 women will die due to pregnancy or delivery complications. Take a moment to think of 8 women you know. If you lived in South Sudan, chances are one of them would die from hemorrhage, sepsis, or obstructed labor.

God bless you for caring and for praying.