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Last month, the Jungle Mamas team completed the first Safe Birth and Family Health workshops ever facilitated entirely by Achuar birth attendants in the native language of Achuar.
First Entirely Community-Led Workshops
The workshops marked a shift to community leadership and a huge step toward long-term sustainability for the Jungle Mamas program.
The Achuar facilitators actively used the Jungle Mamas Safe Birth and Healthy Families teaching booklet, which was handed out to each participant. This book contains simple drawings and information that teach about the necessary steps to address problems ranging from water-borne diseases such as diarrhea to postpartum hemorrhage.
Women’s Health as Community Health
For this landmark workshop series, Achuar women were able to facilitate discussions and teach Achuar families about the following themes:
- Women’s health as a community matter
- The elements of a safe birth
- Infant/child health
- Human reproduction
- Family planning
Reaching a Record Number of Families
The communities of Tsunkintsa and Kurinua are both deep within the jungle, without access to roads. Among the workshop participants were the Achuar Federation (NAE) health leader Mario Wisum and representatives from over 10 communities throughout the territory, most of whom had to walk through the forest for up to 10 hours in order to attend.
On average, 30 participants were present during the workshops, roughly one third men and two thirds women, with a wide diversity in age and family size.
Equipping Communities for Safe Births
In both community workshops, a total of 35 safe birth kits were distributed to pregnant women and to representatives of each community (many of whom hope to be trained birth attendants in the future!). Each kit contains:
- Sterile gloves
- Soap
- Cotton baby blankets (both used to swaddle babies and to measure how much blood is too much in the case of a postpartum hemorrhage)
- String for tying and cutting the umbilical cord
- Disposable birth sheet
- A baby hat
- Maternal diaper pads for after the birth
Next Steps for Overall Community Health
For November and December, Jungle Mamas is planning to finish up with the construction of five more dry composting toilets in the community of Pumpuentsa, part of The Pachamama Alliance spring fundraiser.
The toilets already installed have been a crucial tool for lowering rates of child and infant mortality as well as improving access to clean drinking water for the entire community.
