New_Zealand_Listener_09_14_2019

32 LISTENER SEPTEMBER 14 2019

Janet Coleman,

a midwife from

Tauranga, tells of the

challenges providing

healthcare to patients

in Old Fangak.

Almost 40 years ago, Janet

Coleman had just completed

midwifery training in Scotland

and was travelling through

Asia on her way back home

to Tauranga, New Zealand. In

Thailand, she heard about the

Khmer refugee camp on the

Thai-Cambodian border and

was told that MSF had opened an

obstetrics project there. Janet saw

this as the perfect opportunity

to put her professional skills

and experience to the test and

found herself working with the

organisation for six months

before returning home.

Years later, Janet returned to

MSF and now has nine field

placements to her name. She

has recently returned from three

months’ working in Old Fangak,

in the Sudd wetland area of

South Sudan, where MSF runs a

41-bed hospital.

“Old Fangak is a very isolated

village, with no roads in or out:

the only access is via helicopter

or a small fixed-wing plane, boat,

or of course, walking,” she says.

The remote location of Old

Fangak means people needing

medical aid, including heavily

pregnant women, often have to

walk or row for hours to reach

care. As the midwife activity

manager, Janet provided care

to mothers and their newborn

babies in the hospital.

“I was responsible for the

provision of antenatal care,

delivery, gynaecological care

and postnatal care. The role

also included recruitment and

training of South Sudanese staff

and identifying training needs,

and I was often on call 24/7 and

available for emergencies.”

Janet also lent support to the

MSF outreach teams delivering

medical aid, including antenatal

care for pregnant women, to

people in the surrounding

region.

“Our outreach teams travelled

in speedboats up and down the

Phow River, to reach people

in villages where care was not

available. We would pick up

pregnant women who were at

high risk of complications, or

required urgent care, and take

them by boat to the hospital.

Sometimes villagers along the

river would wave and call out to

S

outh Sudan

remains a

dangerous place

to live, with one

in three people reported

to have fled their home

since renewed conflict

broke out in late 2013.

In the northeast of

the country, the Sudd

wetland area around

the Phow and White

Nile rivers provides a

refuge for people forced

to escape fighting.

Here, Médecins Sans

Frontières (MSF) is

one of the only medical

humanitarian actors

providing healthcare to

local communities.

NEW ZEALAND LISTENER + MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES

Bringing

care

to the

swamps

of South

Sudan

“Old Fangak is a very isolated

village, with no roads in or out.”

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