The International Organization for Migration announced today that maternal health care services have been restored in Bentiu town for the first time in nearly two years after the organization opened a maternity ward at the Bentiu Hospital on 29 February.

Midwives at the maternity ward provide ante-natal and post-natal care, care during deliveries, family planning support and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The Bentiu Hospital had been damaged in fighting in early 2014. The maternity ward was ransacked and critical infrastructure was damaged, including delivery chairs and incubation units.

Most of the population of Bentiu still lives in the UN protection site but IOM says that the town population has been slowly growing, with nearly 22,700 people registering for assistance in Bentiu town and surrounding areas since July 2015.

The restored maternity ward is now equipped with furniture, equipment and medical supplies.

“The State Minister of Health has indicated plans to assign additional midwives to enable the ward to run 24-hours a day,” IOM disclosed in its press release.

IOM has also extended its tuberculosis (TB) testing and treatment programme to Bentiu hospital to help with early diagnosis and treatment of TB cases for people who cannot access health services at the nearby UN protection of civilians (PoC) site, where IOM recently opened a TB testing laboratory.

Photo credit: A child at the IOM maternity ward in Bentiu, 2016 (IOM/Mohammed)