One Heart World-Wide Partners With Qinghai University Hospital To Provide Maternal-Child Health Services In Earthquake-Devastated China

One Heart World-Wide (OHW) announced that it has partnered with the Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University to provide maternal and newborn care to Yushu in the Qinghai Province, which was devastated by the recent earthquake on April 14th. Working with the Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University in Xining, One Heart will strengthen capacity, mobilize resources and implement high-impact programs.


U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China Jon Huntsman said he was pleased that One Heart whose program he had endorsed while Governor of Utah - would be working in China again. "We know One Heart had a successful ten-year program in Tibet," the Ambassador said. "By 2008, there were no reported maternal deaths in the two counties where One Heart was working. We expect One Heart's replicable and sustainable model to make an immediate and lasting impact in Qinghai Province."


Qinghai Province is one of the most underdeveloped in China, with remote villages scattered throughout. There is little access to transportation, medical facilities or trained health personnel to assist women with pregnancies and births. The Affiliated Hospital, which was able to provide on-site maternal care and some outreach to remote Tibetan communities for obstetrical emergencies before the earthquake, is now faced with severely damaged facilities, depleted resources and few uninjured medical personnel. In Tibet's Yushu Region, One Heart's programs will address core components of the local healthcare system that directly impact maternal and infant survival.


"For every 1,000 live births in Qinghai, there are 20 infant deaths. For every 100,000 women who survive childbirth, 100 die. The earthquake has so damaged their fragile health care system that we expect these statistics to get much worse," said Arlene Samen, One Heart World-Wide Founder and CEO. "Fortunately, because of our previous experience in Tibet, we are able to hit the ground running, raising money and providing a safer birthing experience for rural women."


Source

One Heart World-Wide