Rotary initiative aims to lower maternal death rates in Papua New Guinea.
Gwyneth Weuta is the only midwife serving a population of 12,000 in a rural part of Papua New Guinea. The area is a remote place where lush palms drink in the moisture that hangs in the air and forests are sonorous with the calls of shorebirds and tree frogs.
The isolation, as beautiful as it may be, is one of many challenges for the 37-year-old midwife: The clinic where she used to work, a single-story building tucked on a narrow island in the South Pacific nation, had no running water until she procured a grant a couple of years ago. A new health center where she’s now stationed is more developed, but there’s no reliable transportation to get there. Then there are the misconceptions and cultural barriers that lead many to resist birthing in a health care facility.