Boma la Mama Clinic
Boma la Mama aims to provide a full continuum of maternity care for pregnant women, including ante-natal care, delivery, and post-natal care, as well as education. The initiative runs a well-supplied clinic staffed with trained midwives. Women attend the clinic for prenatal care at no cost at least 6 times during their pregnancy. Prenatal visits consist of group sessions for prenatal education, in addition to private consultations. Educating women on topics such as family planning, infant nutrition, and warning signs in pregnancy is a major pillar of Boma la Mama’s clinic.
During delivery, the clinic provides women a private labour and delivery suite, support during labour, respectful care, nutritious meals, and a limit of one patient per bed. Low-risk women that have had their prenatal care at Boma la Mama’s clinic deliver at the centre, at no cost. A consulting and referral system is in place for high-risk pregnancies. The clinic also aims to improve infant health by educating women and providing postpartum care for 6 weeks, including well-baby checks, immunizations, and breastfeeding counselling. Only women that are registered at the prenatal clinic are able to deliver at Boma la Mama.
Guidelines for care at the clinic are developed using local and international standards, such as those developed by the Ministry of Health of Tanzania and the World Health Organization.
Midwife Education
Boma la Mama also runs a midwifery school that offers a two-year midwifery education program. The program follows international educational standards and provides academic and clinical training, with a focus on the psycho-social needs of Tanzanian families. Students will spend a pre-determined amount of hours in a classroom setting per week, in addition to prescribed hours in the clinic for hands-on clinical training. Each semester will outline clinical skills the students will perform, their level of competence increasing steadily by actually performing procedures with supervision of registered midwives. Successful applicants to the midwifery educational program are expected to have a basic English language skill level, a secondary school diploma, and express a desire to study midwifery in a letter of application.
