Soley Lavi - Jacmel, Haiti
Soley Lavi (pronounced "Soul-Lay Lah-Vey"), means Life's Sun Birth Center.
Haiti has the highest rates of infant, under-five and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere. (UNICEF) 670 pregnant women die per 100,000 live births in Haiti. (UNFPA). Haiti is ranked 36 world wide in infant deaths with 63.7 children dying per 1,000 births; 71.5 die before they reach the age of 5 per 1,000.
Mother Health International addresses the infant and maternal mortality rates in Haiti by using the MHI Midwifery Model of Care and offers prenatal care, nutritional support, labor and birth support, and postpartum care to all women who come to our clinic. Volunteer midwives and OBGYNs come from around the world to work at the birth center. Our volunteer birth attendants are skilled at gentle birthing techniques intended to offer women a place of dignity in which to give birth, reduce pain, decrease interventions and cesarean sections. Our model of care incorporates traditional holistic midwifery care while respecting Haitian culture and customs.
We are a NARM approved preceptor site and encourage students and midwives to come and volunteer.
Haiti has the highest rates of infant, under-five and maternal mortality in the Western hemisphere. (UNICEF) 670 pregnant women die per 100,000 live births in Haiti. (UNFPA). Haiti is ranked 36 world wide in infant deaths with 63.7 children dying per 1,000 births; 71.5 die before they reach the age of 5 per 1,000.
Mother Health International addresses the infant and maternal mortality rates in Haiti by using the MHI Midwifery Model of Care and offers prenatal care, nutritional support, labor and birth support, and postpartum care to all women who come to our clinic. Volunteer midwives and OBGYNs come from around the world to work at the birth center. Our volunteer birth attendants are skilled at gentle birthing techniques intended to offer women a place of dignity in which to give birth, reduce pain, decrease interventions and cesarean sections. Our model of care incorporates traditional holistic midwifery care while respecting Haitian culture and customs.
We are a NARM approved preceptor site and encourage students and midwives to come and volunteer.
Volunteer Midwives & Apprentices
| “Learning birth at the Soley Lavi Birth Center in Jacmel, Haiti is giving me an incredible foundation in the midwifery skills of trust and respect for birth, which I know will stay with me throughout my career. After six weeks with the clinic, I committed to another six months here next year, because the style of care here is truly supporting natural childbirth. Women are supported in finding their own power in birth through movement, eating and drinking, and whatever else their intuition tells them to do. Babies are welcomed to their new lives in a setting that is calm, gentle, and loving. The beauty of Haiti and the power of traditional midwifery come together in this clinic to provide both families and volunteers with a transformational experience. There have also been a few babies whose lives I felt sure our care has saved. It doesn’t get much better than that.“ Jenna Humphreys, Assistant Midwife/Student of Traditional Midwifery
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