Village-based midwife Lý Minh Thương plays with a baby in the village. —VNA/VNS Photo Đinh Thùy

LAI CHÂU — Thanks to village-based midwives, mothers who have just given birth in the northern mountainous province of Lai Châu are getting more assistance during their parenthood.

The rate of pregnant women having regular check-ups and giving birth at healthcare facilities has also increased, leading to lower proportion of obstetric complications as well as maternal and neonatal mortality.

Lý Minh Thương, a village-based midwife in Ma Ly Pho border commune, Phong Thổ District, has been doing her job for almost 10 years.

Her daily routine is to visit pregnant women and new-born mothers and instruct them how to take care of the babies. She says all villagers are from the Dao ethnic group. Local women lack pregnancy knowledge so most of them did not visit healthcare facilities for regular check-up and often give birth at home, which posed risks on lives of both the baby and mother.

One of her important tasks is to encourage pregnant women to visit clinics for health check-up and giving birth as well as informing them of the significance of tetanus vaccinations for mothers and other types of vaccines for children.

She also instructs mothers how to take care of themselves during pregnancy, after giving birth, and gives them information about breast feeding.

Thanks to midwives like Thương, all local women now go to health facilities to give birth and there are no longer women giving birth at home.

Tẩn Minh Hạnh, whose new born is 20 days old, says she has no experience as this is her first child. Midwife Thương has instructed her how to breast feed and given her nutrition advice.

Lý Sa Nga, who has a six-month-old baby, says during her pregnancy, she received advice on meal nutrition and vaccinations. When she went into labour, she called midwife Thương and was taken to the healthcare facility.

Nurse Thùng Thị Phương from Ma Ly Pho Commune’s clinic, says the village-based midwives support many women during and after pregnancy.

The team of midwives in Lai Châu Province share the language, customs and habits with local women, and are equipped with knowledge and skills so they can easily approach mothers to persuade them to give up the outdated customs, she says.

The village’s midwives also play an important role in detecting abnormal cases in mothers and babies, she says.

According to Lai Châu Province Department of Health, they have 175 village-based midwives. In 2022, there were 5,625 pregnant women receiving prenatal check-ups.

A total of 957 mothers were mobilised to give birth at healthcare facilities while 266 gave birth at home with the help of midwives.

259 pregnant women were diagnosed with pregnancy problems.

Nguyễn Thế Phong, deputy director of the provincial Department of Health, says these midwives contribute to reducing obstetric complications, maternal mortality and infant mortality in the community. They act as a bridge between the community and health facilities.

Low income

In spite of the important role of village-based midwives, localities lack funding to financially assist them.

Lai Châu Province has trained 175 village-based midwives but only 79 are working. Sixteen of them receive financial assistance while 62 others do not.

This is such a disadvantage for the midwives as most of them are from poor households or ethnic minority groups living in extremely difficult areas. They have to cover expenses such as petrol while performing the job.

Midwife Lý Minh Thương says she used to receive VNĐ700,000 per month but since mid-2020 she no longer received the assistance.

She says she does the job for love,  and hopes that local authorities and the State will give them financial assistance so that they will have more encouragement to work in the future. —VNS