Gone without a trace...

The death of a newborn baby is not a real death, so they say. But this is very unfortunate. When a baby dies and nobody is held accountable, how do we expect to save the next life? This is the story of Anna’s son who died while getting a bath.
The death of a newborn baby is not a real death, so they say. But this is very unfortunate. When a baby dies and nobody is held accountable, how do we expect to save the next life? This is the story of Anna’s son who died while getting a bath.Accra visitThe Mamaye communications and Advocacy teams from all the countries are meeting up in Accra for a review and planning session. One of the tasks for the second day was a visit to a local hospital, Tema General, to have a feel of the Ghanaian health system but to also practice on our story telling.At the hospital, in the maternity ward I am over whelmed by the most beautiful sound in the whole wide world, the cry of a newborn baby. I decide to talk to one of the mothers and her name is Anna Tei.She is holding a day old gorgeous baby girl whom she is yet to name. I ask if this is her first born, as she is seemingly young, and she says:“This is my second born. My first born son died at the hospital soon after his birth.”With that my antennas are up and I want to hear more.What really happened?“Myself and another lady gave our babies to a nurse to bath them and with my husband we went away for some time. On the way back I got the shocking news that my son had died because he cried while taking his bath and accidentally drunk some water.”Utterly shocked with this story and slowly relating to issues back home I ask more questions: What sorts of actions were taken after this? Were you satisfied with the way things were handled? Did you at least get the chance to hold your baby?In my head I am thinking someone ought to have been held accountable to this.But she says to me:“After returning home, I went back with my mother and husband to try and figure out what had happen but we did not get any convincing answers. When we asked for the nurse that had bathed my baby, they said she had gone home and that was it.”Anna’s son was buried at the hospital as is with all newborns because it is a taboo to take them back to the community in Ghana. This is done to prevent the death of other neonates in the communities.Anna's newborn daughter getting her OPV Breaking the silence of newbornsI connect so strongly with this story because it is much closer to home. One of the areas that the Mamaye Malawi team is working on is ‘breaking the silence of neonates’. What I thought was just a Malawian challenge is turning out to be global.Why should the death of a newborn baby not be recognised?Because society, in Malawi, has come to accept that the death of a newborn is not a real death, neonates are facing some injustice. The health system does neither count nor review newborn deaths.Mothers wake up early in the morning, are not to cry and bury their babies in shallow graves. Dogs have at times been seen running around neighbourhoods with babies in the mouth.I then ask myself if it really is possible to fight for the survival of neonates when this is the attitude that we have towards them.Happy ending for AnnaIn all this, I find solace in the fact that Anna’s story has a happy ending because any day from now she goes home with a bouncy baby girl.Fingers crossed that she names her after me.... 

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