Waiting Mothers' Hostel

Patients treated: 100

The Waiting Mothers’ Hostel is a project set up to address a pressing challenge concerning maternal and child health in rural areas of Uganda, particularly in the isolated villages on the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

In these remote areas, the established practice for pregnant women has always been to give birth at home, assisted by a local midwife. Although home births are part of the tradition, they pose enormous risks: in the event of sudden complications, the expectant mother was forced to undertake long and arduous journeys to the nearest hospital. A journey which, in emergency situations and on rough roads, all too often turned into a veritable race against time, putting the lives of both the woman and her baby at risk.

To break this vicious circle, in 2008 the Kellermann Foundation and the Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH), with the support of the AKP, devised a practical solution: to create a shelter adjacent to the hospital, designed specifically for women in the final days or weeks of pregnancy.

The hostel offers a safe and welcoming environment where expectant mothers can stay free of charge whilst awaiting the onset of labour.

The facility provides:

• Essential everyday facilities: a private bed, a communal kitchen for preparing meals and a laundry area.
• Community life: the women go through this journey alongside other expectant mothers, sharing their fears, hopes and experiences in an atmosphere of mutual support.
• Training and prevention: during their stay, courses are organised to prepare them for childbirth and caring for their newborn.
• Continuous medical care: as the centre is just a stone’s throw from the hospital, the women receive regular antenatal check-ups and, above all, have the assurance of qualified midwives on hand and immediate access to emergency obstetric care when labour begins.

The impact of this initiative has proved extraordinary, so much so that demand for places has grown rapidly. In 2019, again thanks to financial support from the AKP, the facility was extended by approximately 185 square metres (2,000 square feet). This extension added 12 new beds, bringing the total capacity to accommodate up to 42 patients at any one time, and created living quarters for midwives to ensure a constant medical presence.

Today, the shelter takes in around 1,200 mothers a year, with a steady average of 100 new arrivals each month. The results on the ground speak for themselves:

• Increase in safe births: the proportion of women choosing to give birth in a healthcare facility staffed by medical professionals rose from 65 per cent in 2013 to 95 per cent in 2019 (a figure well above the Ugandan national average, which stands at around 70 per cent).
• Lives saved: the hostel and the medical team have succeeded in almost completely eliminating maternal mortality within the hospital.

Thanks to the incredible success achieved in Bwindi, the Maternity Hostel has not remained an isolated case, but has become a true model of excellence, successfully replicated both in the capital, Kampala, and in other regions of East Africa.