Picture It: Health Workers Provide Care for Mothers Every Day

May 12, 2017Happy Mother ’s Day to moms—and the health workers who care for them—everywhere!It ’s 11:30 at night.Rakhi Rawat, an ASHA or community health worker in India, answers a call on her mobile. It ’s about Preeti, a pregnant woman she’s been caring for.Her condition is serious. She has pregnancy-induced hypertension. Her membranes have ruptured.Rakhi rushes to Preeti ’s home. She learns Preeti is planning to go to a specialty hospital in Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand, India. But it’s a private hospital, and Preeti’s family can’t afford the costs.It ’s also 130 kilometers away.Rakhi takes her to a much closer, more affordable health center in Kotdwar. There Preeti gives birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl.Photos Preeti safely delivered a healthy baby girl with the help of Rakhi, a frontline health worker. Preeti and her husband now have four daughters and feel their family is complete. Photo courtesy of Gauri Bisht. Rakhi used mSakhi, an app on her mobile, to cousel Preeti about prenatal care and family planning options. Preeti and her husband chose a permanent contraception method. Photo courtesy of Gauri Bisht.But of course Rakhi ’s work doesn’t stop there. All day, every day health workers like Rakhi are providing life-saving care to mothers, from safe deliveries to family planning and HIV services to fistula treatment. All day, every day health workers like Rakhi provide life-saving care to mothers.But we n...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news