A story from Sarah Rubino, our volunteer nurse, and midwife serving in South Sudan.
“I stroked her cheek and whispered, I’m sorry we couldn’t do more, little one. I placed her little body on her mother’s chest, so they could say their goodbyes to each other.”
—Sarah Rubino, CMMB volunteer
A few weeks ago, as she was working at the hospital, a mother arrived in early labor, only 28 weeks into her pregnancy. After the baby was delivered, tiny and fragile, she was in urgent need of an incubator. Tragically, like many hospitals in low-resource countries, there was no incubator.
Hypothermia is the leading cause of neonatal deaths worldwide, merely because lifesaving incubators are not available.
Sarah did all that she could to help the baby stay warm, but it was not enough. She wrapped the baby in a plastic sheet and a blanket to help prevent the baby from getting too cold. Then she waited. There was nothing else she could do. A few hours later, the baby died.
Without life-saving equipment, like incubators, precious lives like this one will continue to be lost. We need your help so that we can save the lives of babies who are born prematurely.