From pencils and telemedicine lectures to a New Women / Childrens Hospital in the midst of rural Congo: Making a huge health care leap

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David V Strider

PROSAMI, USA

: J Womens Health, Issues Care

Abstract

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Over the last year PROSAMI, a volunteer organization supporting maternal and infant care in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), completed the education for nineteen (19) Congolese nurses, providing them with skills and cognitive resources to function as advanced nurse midwives. PROSAMI has been striving since May, 2009, to develop an educational program that could empower DRC nurses to be trained as advanced practice nurse midwives (ANM), with the expectation that such highly qualified health care practitioners can oversee the prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care of women in rural DRC areas. Telemedicine support has facilitated the transmission of “cutting edge,” concise maternal / infant health care lectures to the ANM students. Each of the ANM students has received a laptop computer, a copy of the two - volume Sellers manual on nurse midwifery, and an obstetrical kit containing adult stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, fetoscope, scissors, umbilical clamps, and gauze. On March 10th, 2018, PROSAMI finalized the rental of a 1600 square feet stone building that will accommodate the education for and examination of young women prenatally, the space for normal deliveries, and a suite for post partum care of women and infants. PROSAMI has utilized the Cascade teaching model within the Congo to begin reducing the previous infant mortality rate of 120 /1,000 live births in rural areas, along with the tragically high maternal mortality rate of 693 / 100,000 live births. The Pilot Center will offer comprehensive maternal and infant care services for a three mile radius. Midwives’ clinical services will be provided within a sliding scale matrix that is based on the household gross income. PROSAMI services are blossoming like a beautiful Congolese flower, and the PROSAMI health care model will benefit mothers and babies for many decades.

Biography

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David Strider has practiced at the University of Virginia Medical Center as a nurse for 35 years. He obtained his B.S. in Biology from the College of William and Mary and his MSN and Doctors in Nursing Practice from the University of Virginia. He is the president of PROSAMI.

E-mail: dvs7e@virginia.edu