Project Report
| Jan 30, 2025
Dorcus' Story
By Adam Hewitt-Smith | Trustee, Born on the Edge
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Over the last 10 years amazing things have happened at the Mbale Neonatal Unit. In 2014, not a single baby less than 1500g was surviving and now 80% of these tiny babies are going home alive and well. With your support we have implemented low-cost life-saving equipment like bubble CPAP; created protocols and guidelines; provided psychological support and food to our mothers; given lactational support and donor human milk when needed; and employed and trained local neonatal experts to save the lives of the most vulnerable babies. We thank you from the bottom of our heart for giving babies like Dorcus’ a chance at life. As we celebrate 10 years of work in eastern Uganda, please enjoy Dorcus' story and read through our report, linked below.
Dorcus' story
“At 7 months pregnant I was in the school where I am a teacher, when I realised something was wrong. I moved quickly to a nearby clinic where I had an ultrasound and everything appeared normal. Five days later at home, my contractions started. They quickly became unbearable and then blood began pouring. My husband was still trying to find a way to get me to hospital when I delivered our tiny baby at home.
When I reached my nearby clinic they referred us immediately to the neonatal unit. On the way there, she became very sick, her breathing became so difficult that I thought we would never get to the neonatal unit with her alive. I truly never expected her to survive.
Upon reaching the Neonatal Unit, they tied my baby onto my chest in Kangaroo and immediately put her onto oxygen. She weighed just 1010g and was just 28 weeks. They passed a feeding tube through her nose and into her stomach, so that she could start feeding. I didn’t like it, I thought it would worsen her condition. But the team explained that it was safe, and would carry my breastmilk to my baby’s stomach and help her to grow since she was small and unable to suckle.
I begun by feeding her just two millilitres of my breastmilk every two hours, and every day the doctors would increase the amount of breastmilk I was supposed to give her. Things were going well until one day she caught an infection. She became really sick and I became really stressed. This caused my milk supply to reduce and although the doctors were asking me to give her breastmilk, I was unable to meet the demand myself. The breastfeeding specialist was able to support my baby with donor breastmilk from the milk bank, while she supported me to re-establish my own milk supply. My baby became stronger, and my worries were allayed. She kept on supporting me until my breastmilk was enough. The lactational support programme from Born on the Edge is making such a difference to babies like mine, thank you.”
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Oct 4, 2024
"....this gave me hope"
By Adam Hewitt-Smith | Trustee, Born on the Edge
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“Other babies even smaller than mine were making it home alive.
And this gave me hope.”
We are SO privileged to be able to share this beautiful story of a beautiful mama and her beautiful baby.
“My name is Fauzia and I am 18 years old. I was 6 months pregnant when I started having labour pains at midnight. I went to a nearby clinic and told them I was draining water and I was not feeling well. They put a drip of water on me and told me I can go back home. At 5am, the labour pain intensified and I delivered there at home as we were planning to move to the main hospital. My husband said we should bring the baby to the main hospital to get help. When we arrived at the neonatal unit, we got very good care. This was my first baby and I never saw one this small before! She was less than 1kg and I was so afraid, wondering how I was going to care for her. I got comfort in knowing that I was not alone. Other babies even smaller than mine were making it home alive. And this gave me hope.
At first my husband was afraid and suggested we should just leave the baby and go, he thought baby would not survive. I stood firm and told him I was going to stay and take care of my child. In the end we both stayed and took care of the baby. I have learned to take good care of my baby while in the unit, to always keep clean when caring for them, not to allow just anyone to touch the baby to avoid infections. I learn through teachings on the ward and by attending the preterm support group. The support group helped me get through the challenges of having a small baby, even if I am getting discharged today, I will attend the group before heading home.
I am so grateful for the team at the neonatal unit, they took such good care of us. They taught me a lot of things and gave me so much hope. I am going to continue putting my baby in kangaroo even at home and doing everything I learnt while in the unit.”
In our last report we shared our work training healthcare workers in the community to keep babies who are born too soon warm by teaching mothers and fathers how to use kangaroo mother care. This story is a wonderful example of the impact our newborn care trainers are having every day. Every month we support the neonatal unit to care for up to 350 sick and small babies like Fauzia’s - but we can’t do it without YOU!
Please do get in touch with us if you would like to help us give life and hope to other babies and their families.
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Jun 6, 2024
Immediate Kangaroo Care
By Adam Hewitt Smith | Trustee, Born on the Edge
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Immediate kangaroo care - placing a preterm baby skin-to-skin on the chest of their mother or caregiver as soon as they are born - not only keeps the family at the centre of a babies care, but can significantly reduce mortality.
Our training team will be providing training to >400 healthcare workers in 22 health centres across eastern Uganda to help them safely implement kangaroo at birth before transferring preterm babies to our neonatal unit at Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.
This project is possible through the dedicated work of our neonatal trainers who not only spend their time providing life saving care for the smallest and sickest babies in eastern Uganda but they also continuously look for resources to support improvement of care across the region. Derrick is one of our neonatal clinical officers who has now looked after thousands of tiny babies and provided training and mentoring support to hundreds of healthcare workers and students. With extra support from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, he is exploring the acceptability of immediate Kangaroo Mother Care. Moses, another of our clinical trainers, is providing the hands on training sessions to go alongside.
“I have conducted a number of training sessions since the training courses were launched and I have found so much excitement in sharing and passing this knowledge and these skills. This is something I am passionate about.” - Dr Moses Olupot
Please do get in touch with us if you would like to help us expand support our training. Our clinical training team is dependent on your support to continue their work.
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