In this month’s issue of Retail Pharmacy, Brisbane-based accountant MSI Taylor Business Services, which provides business and financial services to the pharmacy industry, spoke to us about the businesses partnership with the Hands of Rescue Foundation in helping to tackle the challenge of Papua New Guinea’s high maternal mortality rate.
Tell us about the charity/initiative you’ve partnered with and its objectives.
The Hands of Rescue (THOR) Foundation was established by Dr Barry Kirby in 2012 to address the high maternal death rate in Milne Bay Province and in Papua New Guinea [which the province is part of]. It was in response to his research into the causes of maternal deaths in the province in 2010.
Why have you decided to partner with the foundation and what do you hope to achieve with it?
PNG has the highest maternal mortality rate in the western Pacific region – one of the worst rates in the world. In PNG, this is due to the fact that many mothers deliver in remote villages without medical assistance (unsupervised deliveries).
We want to reduce the number of women and babies (maternal and neonatal mortality) dying in childbirth in Milne Bay Province and PNG.
We also aim to encourage mothers to choose a supervised delivery by creating mother-friendly health facilities that embrace the foundation’s evidence-based interventions, which have been shown to improve maternal health outcomes.
Who in your organisation is involved?
Managing Partner Matthew Harris with some help from our very supportive admin team.
What are the highlights/greatest achievements/successes to date of this initiative?
Since THOR Foundation’s introduction of its Safe Motherhood Program interventions, we increased supervised deliveries in participating health centres by an average of 80 per cent. Some centres recorded an increase of more than 200 per cent.
This increase in supervised deliveries was responsible for a reduction in maternal deaths in 2015 by more than 50 per cent.
What is the reach or impact of your partnership/charity? Who has benefited from this initiative?
THOR foundation conducts a Safe Motherhood Program at 23 health centres throughout Milne Bay Province by implementing interventions aimed at encouraging mothers to have a supervised delivery at their health centres and up-skilling health staff to manage obstetric emergencies.
It operates a flying doctor service to support remote health staff in conducting antenatal clinics (ANCs) to identify ‘high risk’ mothers and fly them back to hospital [in the provincial capital, Alotau] for a safe delivery. We’re also on-call 24/7 to retrieve mothers and [assist with] other emergencies on behalf of the hospital.
Also, we have a public health intervention to engage the community to inform men and women of the benefits of a supervised delivery, spacing children, attendance by men at ANCs and time of delivery.
What’s next for your business and the charitable initiative?
Our next objective is to expand our services to more provinces in the area, reviewing the waiting houses and maternity facilities in health centres, and improving these.
This feature was originally published in the March issue of Retail Pharmacy magazine.
