CONSTRUCTION OF A MATERNITY WARD IN KOUSSANAR, SENEGAL

The Senegalese healthcare system is comprised of various types of facilities, including health posts, dispensaries, clinics, health centers, and hospitals. In the village of Koussanar, a dispensary has been operating since 1960. It became a health post when the pharmacy was established in 1990. It currently serves a local and nomadic population of 14,440.

The health post currently includes: a general medicine clinic, a pharmacy, a maternity ward with a permanent midwife, a laboratory, and an observation room for short-term hospitalizations, particularly during malaria epidemics. It is managed by a head nurse and has a medical team of 22 people, two of whom are state-certified and paid by the Ministry of Health. The others are paid by the post from monthly profits, with the exception of the ambulance driver, who is paid by the municipality. The post continuously hosts nursing and midwifery interns.

Many women who currently come to this maternity ward to give birth and/or receive prenatal care have never had an ultrasound. In cases of high-risk pregnancies, the midwife can only advise them to go to the hospital in Tambacounda to access this service, but it is clear that very few women actually travel to the city for this examination, which is not free. In the project we are discussing, providing the population with a more modern maternity ward and access to ultrasound will help to open up access to healthcare for a rural and bush community.