Granville mothers share benefit from antenatal care
Keron Smith and Tashanie Gardner are expectant mothers singing the praises of the antenatal nursing team in the second city of Montego Bay, St James. Smith, who will be a mother for the fourth time, and Gardner, a first-time mom, are both at the 20-week mark of their pregnancies.
Both women, who are from Granville, have benefited from the intense training of the nurses in the public health system provided by the Programme for the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PROMAC).
Since 2013, PROMAC has designed and executed training across Jamaican hospitals and health regions with the “goal of reducing maternal mortality” and “that all women and children enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and well-being”.
To improve the success of these objectives, PROMAC, in partnership with the National Family Planning Board (NFPB), with additional funding by the European Union, has embarked on an awareness campaign to get mothers participating in their maternal health and well-being.
With the ‘Clinic is a Mus and Healthy Body is a Mus’ campaign, PROMAC and the NFPB are targeting new and repeat mothers and urging their attendance to regular antenatal clinics, while practising the healthy habits of diet and exercise.
NERVOUSNESS
As a teenage mother, Smith said she overcame her initial nervousness at the encouragement of her mother.
“I went to the clinic really early, because my mother is that type of person, and when I went I found that my blood type was O negative and I was anaemic,” she shared. That information was important as the clinic staff could design a plan for her care.
Gardner, 23, said her family members encouraged her to attend clinic as her party lifestyle, before realising her pregnancy, could have its effects.
“I was drinking for the first three months, my diet was poor, and so they encouraged me to go. They told me I would get vitamins and prenatals to get healthy for the baby.
“The experience has been great. I got a sense of relaxation at the clinic because I have a lot of questions and it is comforting. The nurses are there to walk me through the steps and stages and what to expect,” she added.
Marion Waysome-McIntyre, behaviour change communication coordinator at the NFPB, said expectant mothers need to go to the clinic regularly. “Jamaica has a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity. These are the most common conditions we have identified that lead to maternal death. With regular check-ups at the clinic, we can reduce the impacts on the lives of the women, their babies and their families.”