Ot Nywal Me Kuc - Atiak, Uganda
Ot Nywal Me Kuc (House of Birth and Peace, pronounced "Oat New-Wal Mee Kooch")
Over the last 23 years, more than two million people have been displaced in Northern Uganda. Hundreds of thousands have recently resettled from years of living in internally displaced persons camps. In 2009 most foreign aid was pulled out, leaving gaps in resources that the community of displaced persons struggle to fill. Many women and babies die needlessly every day because of lack of access to health care. The need for locally sustained women’s health care is immediate. For two generations women have been used as sex slaves for the rebel army, abducted and forced to give birth to as many babies as possible to build up the army with child soldiers. Women giving birth in captivity were faced with lack of prenatal and obstetrical care, severe starvation, untreated STDs, physical mutilation and extreme emotional trauma, among other issues. Not surprisingly, Northern Uganda has one of the highest birth rates in the world, and also one of the highest perinatal mortality rates.
We view access to reproductive health care as a basic human right. Displaced women, disaster survivors, war survivors and the very poor are disproportionately affected by maternal and infant mortality. Amnesty International recommends birth centers as part of the solution to the crisis in maternity care.
Ot Nywal Me Kuc (House of Birth and Peace, pronounced "Oat New-Wal Mee Kooch") is a sustainable, solar powered birth house located 20miles south of the border to South Sudan. The closest hospital is 50 miles away. We have the only ambulance in the region. We are a government approved health center that employs Traditional Midwives, Nurse Midwives and students. Most of our clients are internally displaced, refugee and recently resettled women and families.
Three to five women give birth daily at the center, and close to 50 come weekly for antenatal care. Our outcomes are significantly better than the national average. In Uganda, a woman has a 1/25 lifetime chance of dying during childbirth. Our birth house has a record that defies odds, having never lost a mother and an infant mortality rate that is closer to that of a western country. We do this through comprehensive, individualized care that is run by the people, for the people.
The birth clinic in Atiak is truly the first of its kind. Holistic and restorative reproductive care is essential to a future of peace in Uganda.
When women do not see pregnancy as a potential death sentence they take care of themselves and their children differently. Our model allows women to participate actively in their daily health care. Women are treated with respect and given one-on-one attention.
For information on coming to work with us as a student or midwife in Atiak, click HERE.
Over the last 23 years, more than two million people have been displaced in Northern Uganda. Hundreds of thousands have recently resettled from years of living in internally displaced persons camps. In 2009 most foreign aid was pulled out, leaving gaps in resources that the community of displaced persons struggle to fill. Many women and babies die needlessly every day because of lack of access to health care. The need for locally sustained women’s health care is immediate. For two generations women have been used as sex slaves for the rebel army, abducted and forced to give birth to as many babies as possible to build up the army with child soldiers. Women giving birth in captivity were faced with lack of prenatal and obstetrical care, severe starvation, untreated STDs, physical mutilation and extreme emotional trauma, among other issues. Not surprisingly, Northern Uganda has one of the highest birth rates in the world, and also one of the highest perinatal mortality rates.
We view access to reproductive health care as a basic human right. Displaced women, disaster survivors, war survivors and the very poor are disproportionately affected by maternal and infant mortality. Amnesty International recommends birth centers as part of the solution to the crisis in maternity care.
Ot Nywal Me Kuc (House of Birth and Peace, pronounced "Oat New-Wal Mee Kooch") is a sustainable, solar powered birth house located 20miles south of the border to South Sudan. The closest hospital is 50 miles away. We have the only ambulance in the region. We are a government approved health center that employs Traditional Midwives, Nurse Midwives and students. Most of our clients are internally displaced, refugee and recently resettled women and families.
Three to five women give birth daily at the center, and close to 50 come weekly for antenatal care. Our outcomes are significantly better than the national average. In Uganda, a woman has a 1/25 lifetime chance of dying during childbirth. Our birth house has a record that defies odds, having never lost a mother and an infant mortality rate that is closer to that of a western country. We do this through comprehensive, individualized care that is run by the people, for the people.
The birth clinic in Atiak is truly the first of its kind. Holistic and restorative reproductive care is essential to a future of peace in Uganda.
When women do not see pregnancy as a potential death sentence they take care of themselves and their children differently. Our model allows women to participate actively in their daily health care. Women are treated with respect and given one-on-one attention.
For information on coming to work with us as a student or midwife in Atiak, click HERE.
