How we're supporting Yeshareg's work
Laughing like old friends in the shade of the health post, Yeshareg and Alemnesh discuss Alemnesh’s upcoming birth. Yeshareg is the village’s sole health extension worker, providing preventative health services to those who live at a distance from a health centre. Yeshareg is providing a routine antenatal visit to Alemnesh and is happy with her pregnancy’s progress in her last trimester.
We met Alemnesh and Yeshareg filming Maternity Waiting Homes in 2019 in the dusty villages of Amhara, Ethiopia.
Alemnesh lives far from her nearest health facility – where she can give birth safely with a skilled birth attendant. Yeshareg carefully spends a few minutes talking with Alemnesh about the benefits of visiting a Maternity Waiting Home - a home away from home adjacent to a health centre where she can await birth. After listening to the advice, Alemnesh agrees the best option for her is to make the journey before labour, and the two make plans for when she will leave for the waiting home.
As a health extension worker, Yeshareg provides a vital service to her community: monitoring the health of local women and men, providing health advice, and administering vaccines and other simple health services. And after ten years, she still loves it.
“I like connecting with the mothers and children in the community,” she tells us as we talk about her work. She gets to know the children as they grow and can see first-hand the impact of her work.
Yeshareg provides a vital service, as she explains there is limited access to accurate health information. She spends a lot of her time answering routine questions and concerns including: dispelling myths, explaining potential risks during pregnancy and childbirth, and the importance of seeking skilled care at the local health centre. She repeats herself frequently.
That’s where SafeHands comes in. Our project Labour at the Last Mile is enhancing the capacity of health extension workers to encourage women living at a distance from health centres to visit a Maternity Waiting Home before labour starts. Our health education film Maternity Waiting Homes is screened by health extension workers like Yashereg at health centres, and community meetings as a part of antenatal care. We are also ensuring the message is broadcast widely across Amhara on community radio in Yilmena Densa and Denbia districts. In the hardest-to-reach communities, our films are shown on solar tablets despite a lack of electricity and to ensure no one is left behind in receiving this essential information. Our work enables Yeshareg’s vital work, complementing her ability to address her clients’ concerns.
Photo Credit:
Banner Image: SafeHands | Nancy Durrell McKenna | Ethiopia | 2019
Portrait of Yeshareg: SafeHands | Nancy Durrell McKenna | Ethiopia | 2019