Bridges 2 Africa

Premature Babies Project. Increasing Survival Rate

There is a silver living in every dark cloud. As an organization, we look for an opportunity to be a blessing in every situation in which we become involved.  There is a purpose and a reason why God allows problems to hit home. It  all started in February 2009 when one of  our coordinators in Ghana delivered a premature baby who  we will call Miracle at 24 week term weighing under 2lbs. This experience was an emotional roller coaster and we were amazed at how much help could be used in the developing countries when it comes to caring for premies, how under equipped the NICU departments are, how inaccessible formula particularly formulated for premies are and how sadly low the survival rates of premies are.

Off the bat, our coordinator was told by medical personnel that “If this was in the US or some other developed country, your baby would have had a chance” “ Oh as for this one it is an abortion baby”.  We got to experience at first hand what parents who deliver premature babies in Ghana go through and the stories are no different in other African countries.

There were horror stories of how there were not enough basic equipment such as baby monitors in the NICU department to go around all the babies.  At that critical state, there is no reason why a baby should go unmonitored.  Staff are unmotivated and overworked reducing their efficiency and excitement about their work. The mortality rate is so high that most staff had gotten used to the fact that a majority of the babies will not make.  We listened to one horrific story after the other of mothers who feel their babies would have made it if a little bit more deligence was applied.  A mother whose baby was in NICU witnessed the only constant thing being the fact that several babies will not be around in the morning and “white boxes” readily available. Our coordinator went through the emotional trauma of not being able to visit the NICU in the morning until someone her husband visited first and confirmed that the baby was still alive.

Thanks to God her baby survived due to the fact there was a nurse who we will refer to as “Angel” who took personal responsibilty of her  baby. Angel was attached to her baby and took personal responsibility of her. There were times when Angel worked a straight 2 hour shift be Miracle was in critical condition and she knew if she went home, that would have been it.  After her 2 hour shift, our babies condition stabilized and Angel went home for a couple of hours. Believe it or not, by the time Angel came back in a couple of hours, Miracle who she had worked so hard to stabilized was turning blue and in critical condition again. The dreaded possibilty had happened. A less careless nurse had taken oxygen off Miracle. Thank God for our Angel who worked hard again, went over and beyond to stabilize Miracle.

Thankfully Miracle made it and discharged home. There were still serious under weight, Colic and development issues to deal with.  Premies are special and certainly require special formula loaded with calories to boost their development and weight gain, gentle on their undeveloped stomach and other organs.  Unfortunately, medical personnel did not bother to make recommendation to our friend on what formula and related products could increase the development of Miracle and her survival.  Based on the challenges our coordinator was going through, we went on a quest to visit stores like Babies r Us, Walmart, online and talk to pediatrician friends for ideas. We narrowed it down to 2 products from Similac Neosure and Similac human milk fortifiers. We shipped some of these to be tried for Miracle and Viola! We had our answer. All the feeding, weight gain, colic problems were solved. Our coordinator took samples fo these to the NICU director for approval before feeding and was told “this is a exactly what you need”. Unfortunately, they are not suggested to parents of premies because they are not available in any store in Ghana and if they were, the prices were outside the capability of the average premie parent. Long story short, our Miracle has grown well, no developmental issues and looks great compared to the other babies she was born with.

Other premie babies who our coordinator knew have also benefitted from Neosure and Human Milk Fortifier.

The medical personnell appealed to our coordinator not to forget the department in however way she can help.

Bridges 2 Africa believes all the other babies should have the opportunity for survival not just because their parents know someone in the US who can afford to ship these expensive products. We are therefore on a quest to get support to be able to ship these and make them accessible as part of the routine NICU care.  We want all premies to have equal opportunity to survive regardless of the economic status of their families.