Improve Maternal and Child Care

The Share Your Love Association is an NGO working to improve the health of women and children. In our local context, many women have no job that can help them to earn money that will sustain their health and even feeding. This makes if difficult for them to afford basic health care especially when they are pregnant. For this reason many of them come to the hospital at 2nd or 3rd trimester some even come only when they are in labour without any laboratory screening , no echography done and so we don't know what to expect at birth. 
with this situation there is increase maternal and child mortality. 

Our association  (SYLA) together with the Immaculate Conception Medical Center is trying to encourage and sensitize the women in our community to come for antenatal consultation and do the necessary laboratory screening. we aim at reducing or subsidizing laboratory test like electrophoresis, echography cost, toxoplasma  and urinalysis as well as the necessary supplements that they need to take during this delicate and very important period of life. 
Most of the women don’t receive any money from their husbands/partners when they need to go to the hospital. I have received cases where a pregnant women who was having fever and lower abdominal pain came to consult and when i diagnosed her with urinary tract infection, she called her husband to give her money for antibiotics, she was scolded at and he asked her why she even went to the hospital. That she should not have gone to the consult but just buy cheap medicine from the street. I am sick of these things and i personally think that women should be able to have their own income to be able to take care of their health and not be 100% dependent on men.

we also work at rendering them self sufficient by letting them learn a trade or start a small business so that they can earn and be able to sustain their health and that if their children.

First community sensitization by going round every Monday and educating the community on health issues and early antenatal consultation as well as child health.

2. Subsidize the essential laboratory test thus making them affordable for them

3. Reducing antenatal echography cost by half and providing a good echography machine in the local hospital to avoid expectant mothers to travel long distances. 

4. Subsidizing child health care making it even if free consultation and payment of just health the health care cost and completely free for those internally displaced families.

5. Setting up Maternal and  Child Care office to defend  them from abuses. Not taking care of a women and child in time of sickness is an abuse. Not providing them with food daily is an abuse. So lets fight this

target population: women, pregnant women and children 

They are the vulnerable group of people and dependent thus they have no control on how to finances their health care. 

Reduction/subsidising basic laboratory test and free consultation for them. 
providing an echography for service of pregnant women and other Gynecologic pathologies 

Lowering treatment of children to the minimum 

Setting up an office that cater for them

our team is made up of community nurses who go round regularly in the community to sensitise and listen to the people thus they are wel qualified  to assess and identify the need of the community. the community workers are living in the community and attend various quarter meetings to talk about health and listen to the local people and subsequently transmit their their difficulties to the team. 
The number of women and children in the community help guide us on how to proceed 

1. Providing a good echography machine that will serve pregnant women a reduced prizes

2. Community sensitisation about importance of antenatal consults 

3. Subsidise essential laboratory test done during antenatal consultation 

4. Subsidise/reduce cost of drugs and laboratory test for children <10yr and full subsidise for those <5yrs 

5. Open a mother and child care office to defend from abuse  

fist of all by providing an echography machine in the local hospital, will encourage the women to come since they will have easy access and shorter waiting time

Sensitization of the community will increase awareness and encourage women to come to the hospital when then are planing to conceive, when pregnant and when their child is sick

Subsidising and reducing prices for the poor and vulnerable will encourage them to come to the hospital when the illness is not yet server this reduces mortality and cost of treatment 

A well sensitised community will lead to prompt medical consult and lesser admission rate

easy and quick access to quality health care for women and children. Healthy women and children will lead to decrease poverty and increase productivity as they will spend less in the hospital and more for their children and home

Cheap and accessible hospital care for children lead to better health and decreased infant and child mortality 

Good guidance and counselling will lead to less abuses of women and children 

Better healthy women and children 

Increase our patient consult and decrease admission rate

Increase working and productivity of women

A knowledgeable community 

improve health 

Increase productivity and thus self sufficient as healthier children means women have more time to work and less time to worry

Reduce abuses lead to a better society 

community sensitisation and mobilisation: impacting them with knowledge and knowledge is power

Availability of essential test at reduced prises with highly qualified workers: quality maintained 

Presence of a counsellor to attend to the women and children is a great opportunity to defend and protect them

the team is diverse as medical doctors will be involved, nurses, laboratory technicians, guidance counsellors, community workers, some of the victims of abuse also serve in advocacy and they are compensated for their work done

impact on the lives of the people women and children in the community 

if we get support sponsors for an echography machine, we’ll to do patients will pay their regular fee and the poor and vulnerable will then have reduced prises

Sponsors also will help us to subsidise laboratory test but other patients will pay regular charges and the profits will be used for the poor and vulnerable people 

We will solicit assistance from other association and community to be able to have money to encourage community health workers for their community activities 

so far we do community sensitization and nurse and community health workers go to the quarters every Monday this has generated allot of awareness as many are now coming early to the hospital but much ground still needs to be covered 

We have received some small donations from some people of good will which has helped us to treat some severely dehydrated children some at discount rate and other free  of charge depending on the degree of vulnerability 

Some pregnant women have been physically and some verbally assaulted by their partners and they have come to us either for treatment and counselling . Much still need to be done