Today was certainly a long day covering a range of emotions. We started out in the morning at the 1 de Maio Health Centre. This clinic, like the Manga-Mascarenhas Health Centre, provides a full range of health care services, but focuses on PMTCT. This treatment includes ARVs for the mother and baby, pyscho-social counseling and support, nutrition counseling for the mother and child, post-natal care including counseling on family planning and follow-up of the child in terms of vaccinations and growth monitoring. I am continually impressed by how they have all the bases covered, of course, the challenge now is getting mothers and families to take advantage of these services. It is difficult as some people have to walk as far as 10km to get to the centre and wait all day long. Mozambique is also still very much a patriarchal society and many women have to get permission from their husbands or fathers before they can even go to the health centre.
This centre was similar to the one from the day before. We met a woman who was walking out with her newborn child. She had just given birth the day before. Patricia asked her how it went, and she said, "It hurt". There is no pain medication for labor in Mozambique.
As we walked around the centre, we noticed little points of continuing education everywhere. They had a TV playing some of the same messages we'd seen the night before, a family planning poster outlining the different options, and another poster on water and sanitation hygiene. The learning never stops.
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