Supporting safe births, healthy babies and contraceptive choice in Iraq
Above: A midwife cleans and dresses baby Karina immediately after her birth on 22 June 2020 at Al-Shuhada Maternity Unit. Photo: CARE International
Through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership’s Building Peaceful Futures consortium, CARE International in Iraq has supported the Al-Shuhada Maternity Unit to provide sexual, reproductive and maternal health services to women in Sinjar.
Maternal health services are limited in the region after many facilities were destroyed during conflict, threatening the health of often young, economically vulnerable mothers and their babies.
CARE began supporting Al-Shuhada Maternity Unit in July 2019. The unit provides 24-hour services, seven days a week, in ante-natal care, post-natal care, birthing, family planning, management of sexually transmitted infections and other gynaecological and obstetric diseases, and referral of complicated cases. The unit is home to six midwives and two reproductive health doctors, serving some 8000 women of child-bearing age in Sinjar.
For Malas, a 28-year-old Yazidi woman who returned to Sinjar in 2017 after its liberation from Islamic State, the CARE maternal health unit supported every step of her pregnancy and birth of her daughter Karina, as well as guiding her during her daughter’s first year. The maternal health unit has also supported Malas in making her contraceptive choices after the birth.
Malas made her first visit to Al-Shuhada Maternity Unit in October 2019 for a pregnancy test. After her initial consultation, where she found out that she was expecting and received advice from the doctors on a healthy pregnancy, she continued to visit the maternity unit monthly for ante-natal checks and care.
In June 2020, Malas returned to the unit to give birth, after her labor began at home. Karina was delivered safely, with mother and baby in good health. Before discharge from the unit, Malas received information on family planning, breastfeeding and baby care, as well as postnatal care and the services available at the clinic.
Above: Malas resting after the birth with newborn baby Karina at the CARE-supported Al-Shuhada Maternity Unit. Photo: CARE International
Malas’s contraceptive needs changed over the first year after Karina’s birth, and the maternal health unit provided her with information and access each time. Once Karina had turned one, Malas approached the CARE doctor about longer-term contraceptives, and chose to have an Intra-Uterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) implanted, which the unit was also able to carry out.
Malas says she is grateful for the services at the maternity unit, which have brought these services much closer for Sinjar women.
“I commend the reproductive health staff for supporting me through pregnancy, the safe delivery of my beautiful daughter and the post-natal care services that have enabled me to maintain good health for myself and my daughter,” Malas said.
Above: Malas and baby Karina in June 2021. Karina is now one year old. Photo: CARE International
The Australian Humanitarian Partnership response in Iraq, Building Peaceful Futures, is implemented by a consortium led by Save the Children Australia. Other partners include CARE Australia, Handicap International and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This multi-year response is focused on supporting the return and reintegration of communities in Ninewa (Northern Iraq) and Kirkuk (Central Iraq) that have been displaced by conflict, and building community resilience.
Malas’s contraceptive needs changed over the first year after Karina’s birth, and the maternal health unit provided her with information and access each time. Once Karina had turned one, Malas approached the CARE doctor about longer-term contraceptives, and chose to have an Intra-Uterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) implanted, which the unit was also able to carry out.
Malas says she is grateful for the services at the maternity unit, which have brought these services much closer for Sinjar women.
“I commend the reproductive health staff for supporting me through pregnancy, the safe delivery of my beautiful daughter and the post-natal care services that have enabled me to maintain good health for myself and my daughter,” Malas said.
The Australian Humanitarian Partnership response in Iraq, Building Peaceful Futures, is implemented by a consortium led by Save the Children Australia. Other partners include CARE Australia, Handicap International and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This multi-year response is focused on supporting the return and reintegration of communities in Ninewa (Northern Iraq) and Kirkuk (Central Iraq) that have been displaced by conflict, and building community resilience.