Hostel for High Risk Pregnant Women
| Project objective: | To lower the high maternal and perinatal mortality rates in the area, and facilitate access to antenatal and obstetrical care. |
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Location:
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Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras |
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Participants:
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Budget:
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$104,369 |
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Time of execution:
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November 1994 - June 1996 |
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Status:
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Successfully completed |
 The Hogar Materno project was conceived in 1993 during a visit by a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Calgary Centennial to Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. The project was developed in stages following numerous discussions with members of the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa de Copán, local acute care health professionals at the Hospital de Occidente, public health practitioners from the region, visiting health professionals from the Pan American Health Organization, community development practitioners from the Division of International Development at The University of Calgary, and members of the communities surrounding Santa Rosa de Copán.
The project was initially envisioned to simply involve the construction of a building to house a hostel for high risk pregnant women from the areas surrounding Santa Rosa de Copán. The need for the hostel was based on the high maternal and perinatal mortality rates in the area. These tragic statistics were compounded by the lack of roads and emergency medical transportation and that rural women had to walk several days to reach appropriate antenatal and obstetrical care. The construction project was revised to become a training program for apprentices in the construction trades. Several other educational components were added to the project in the areas of nutrition, breast feeding, and micro-credit/micro-enterprise development as well. Work began in 1994 with the acquisition of land and the accumulation of some of the required building materials. Construction began in 1995 during the course of which 45 apprentices from 15 surrounding communities were trained as carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and masons. The actual building was completed in mid 1996 and in the fall of 1996 began receiving its first high-risk pregnant women from the surrounding communities and began its education offerings as well. An impact assessment was done in early 1998 of the first 14 months of operation. During that period there were a total of 941 admissions. Interestingly, total admissions to the adjacent Hospital de Occidente have steadily increased from 4109 in 1995 to 4505 in 1997. Perinatal mortality in and around Santa Rosa de Copán has dropped from 34 per 1000 live births in 1995 to 26 per 1000 in 1997. Also, maternal mortality has dropped from 200 per 100,000 women in 1995 to 150 per 100,000 in 1997. This compares to an ongoing problem with higher maternal mortality in the health region of 174 per 100,000 and nationally of 221 per 100,000 women in 1997. In summary it would appear that this project has been a major component in the successful reduction of maternal and perinatal mortality in the Region and has had numerous valuable educational spin-off benefits as well. |
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