Saving the Lives of Mothers and Children–a story from Kyrgyzstan

Duishebaeva Shurukan Saitmuratovna is a midwife who works in a remote mountain village in Kyrgyzstan. She is 400 kilometers from the nearest regional medical center, but she received training in Helping Mothers Survive Bleeding after Birth by a midwife trainer who attended a course sponsored by LDS Charities. This training teaches midwives, nurses, and health care professionals how to intervene during childbirth in order to save lives. Duishebaeva was awakened in the middle of the night and asked to help deliver a baby in a woman’s home. “All I could think about,” Duishebaeva said, “was what would happen if I couldn’t help this woman.” The baby was delivered successfully but after the birth, the mother began bleeding excessively. After Duishebaeva dried and warmed the baby, she turned to help the mother. Using the skills she learned from the HMS BAB training, she was able to stop the bleeding and stabilize the mother. Today, both the mother and her baby are healthy. “We have saying in my country if a mother is healthy and her child is healthy, a people or nation is healthy,” the midwife said. Duishebaeva continues to serve her people every day. Each year, hundreds of thousands of women die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. LDS Charities is proud to be working toward one of the United Nation’s Millennial Development Goals of reducing maternal mortality by providing HMS training to those who care for women at birth.