Congo’s mothers trek hours to give birth

As people in Britain celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday perhaps with a meal out or flowers, the situation could not be more different for mothers in Congo.

Furaha is 18 years old. In one month, she will give birth to her first child. She comes from the village of Nybiondo but will spend the last month of her pregnancy in the “Welcome village” for pregnant women at risk in Masisi Hospital. “It took me six hours to get to Masisi,” she told medics at the hospital. “I was scared during the walk because my baby stopped moving in my belly. I was exhausted. But that same evening, I felt him again. The baby is in breech… I might need a caesarean. I am happy I can wait here at the hospital and not risk dying on my way as other women do, when they leave for the hospital at the very last moment.”

For five years, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been at the centre of what could be termed Africa's world war. The conflict pitted government forces, supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda. But the violence has made it impossible for people to lead normal lives - and without access to proper antenatal care expectant mothers are the forgotten victims.
“I married to have children,” said Furaha “…and I am determined to give them an education. Myself, I cannot read or write. And when my children grow up, I want them to be able to take care of themselves properly. Everyone is suffering from the war here. At home, armed men stole my goats and burned my house.”

Children die faster in Congo than in all but 10 other countries in the world, according to United Nations statistics. A house-by-house survey by the International Rescue Committee found that the child death rate was four times that for Africa as a whole. If conditions remain unchanged, 515 of every 1,000 children will die before turning 5, the organization said. In developed nations such as the United States, the comparable statistic is six deaths for every 1,000, according to the United Nations, which relies on somewhat different statistical methods.

The statistics mirror what mothers say. In a place where women often become pregnant seven or eight times, many say they have buried several children, generally after they died of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, fever or other ills that rarely kill in places with adequate nutrition and medical care.

Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children