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A UNFPA-supported maternity waiting home in Namibia is offering mothers and their newborns a better chance at surviving — and thriving. Maternity waiting homes provide spaces for mothers to stay near hospitals, as well as beds, trained onsite midwives, and gardens where new mothers can learn to grow food for themselves and their families.
For women and girls in remote villages across Namibia, waiting homes are crucial. Many new mothers face long distances to their nearest hospital and trained medical staff. It took 17-year-old Mukaamakove an hour and a half to travel from her village of Ohandungu to a waiting home in Opuwo, Namibia, where she is expecting her first baby. “My parents sent me,” she explained. “They told me I would be better off here, that I would be safe, and my baby as well. At home, we don’t have transport to reach the hospital in time if something happens.”
Mukaamakove’s parents were right to send her to a UNFPA-supported waiting home. There are mothers like Kuliua, whose family did not have access to transportation, resulting in the tragic loss of her baby due to a complication that could have been avoided with the care of a skilled midwife. “I regret it every day,” Kuliua told us. “If only I had gone to the hospital sooner, or if I had been at the maternity waiting home…” The rate of maternal deaths in Namibia has slowly improved over the past few years, but is still almost double the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of no more than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. UNFPA-supported services, like maternity waiting homes in Namibia, seek to address this trend, providing a vital link between health equity, women’s empowerment, and gender equality. Erika Goldson, a UNFPA representative in Namibia, put it best when she said: “Supporting maternity waiting homes is not just about the infrastructure — it’s about protecting the right to safe childbirth.”
Thank you for being there for women and girls. — USA for UNFPA |
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