This week, several of our members had the opportunity to attend an educational event hosted by the St Louis Park (MN) Rotary Club. The presenter was Dr. Rahel Nardos, originally from Ethiopia and now a distinguished professor, clinician, and researcher at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Nardos leads a group called Global Women’s Health. She works closely with doctors, hospitals, and clinics in sub-Saharan Africa. After our recent Global Traveler’s trip to Ethiopia, we were particularly interested in her work there.
Dr. Nardos talked about maternal death and the continued opportunity for improvement in the developing world. In the global north, we’ve proving that we can bring the maternal death rate to near zero. Many organizations are focused on that effort in the global south.
But, as she pointed out, that’s only part of the story. The last statistic on this chart is equally important and the focus of her work. For every woman who dies in childbirth, 20 or 30 other women suffer serious physical and / or psychological injury. Our Global Travelers learned about this at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. Reducing the incidence of childbirth complications is an equally worthy goal.
Dr. Nardos and her Global Women’s Health organization are partnering with a variety of organizations in sub-Saharan African in their efforts to significantly improve childbirth outcomes. They are training clinicians. They are raising public awareness of the issues and the potential remedies. They are making progress. We left the presentation inspired and impressed by her knowledge and her commitment.
