Christine Murphy and colleagues in Tanzania. Photo: supplied
Christine Murphy is a midwife at Frances Perry House. Along with three colleagues, she recently went to Tanzania with the help of an ANMF / HESTA volunteer grant.
It was actually her second trip. Christine first travelled to Tanzania for four weeks of volunteering in 2023. Once home, she said, ‘we immediately started planning a return trip with clearer intent.’
On the first trip, she and her colleagues were working in a regional referral hospital that accepted women who were at times very unwell or had complex pregnancies and births.
‘We noticed that many of the babies were being born in poor condition and requiring resuscitation at birth, but unfortunately the hospital lacked the resources and staff lacked the skills to save many of these babies.’
Providing education and equipment
The goal for their return trip was therefore to provide education and equipment to support neonatal resuscitation. Christine and her colleagues Megan Whittle, Alex Ryan and Simone Gleeson – all senior birth suite midwives ‘with a combined 80 years of experience between us’ – worked with five local hospitals in the Arusha region of northeastern Tanzania. They spent a number of days at each, demonstrating and working with staff on their skills – at one of the hospitals they had 44 staff attend their presentation!
‘Often when it was busy we would also assist with deliveries and labour care,’ Christine notes.
One of Christine’s highlights was ‘returning to a hospital after a weekend off with the staff excitedly announcing that they had done a successful resuscitation the day before’.
The group also assisted this particular hospital with setting up a NICU unit by purchasing an oxygen saturation monitor, a phytotherapy light and a resuscitation trolley. ‘The staff’s excitement and gratitude was heart-warming.’
Each hospital was also ‘left with a new neonatal resus doll and a number of bags and masks, new oxygen tubing, nasal prongs and suction devices,’ Chrstine said. ‘We also knitted hundreds of beanies for babies at risk.’
Fundraising
In addition to support from ANMF and their employer, the group fundraised and personally purchased and resourced equipment from many places. Medical Pantry also donated some bag and mask resuscitators.
For Christine, one of the biggest challenges of working in environments like those encountered in Tanzania is ‘the frustration and sadness of knowing that the available care and outcomes in a country like Australia would be so different’.
Despite this frustration and sadness, Christine says that volunteering is ‘an extremely rewarding experience’ that ‘gives life perspective’. She adds that there is benefit in being qualified in the area you are volunteering. ‘Volunteering as experienced midwives allowed us to seamlessly integrate into their teams, sharing experience with one another. Having professional expertise definitely enhances the experience.’
Christine Murphy (at right of image) and colleagues Megan Whittle, Alex Ryan and Simone Gleeson in Tanzania. Photo: supplied
