Maternitainer: A safe place for women and babies
Vulnerable groups in a society are very often the biggest victims of a conflict. This is also the case in countries like Iraq and Syria where conflicts threaten women and children in their everyday life, at home or in refugee camps. The vulnerable situation of these women and children is the reason why Hospitainer came up with the idea of a Maternitainer. After the idea arose, research confirmed the need.
A Maternitainer is a special medical unit built in a 20 ft shipping container according to the requirements of the World Health Organization where assisted deliveries can take place and victims of sexual violence can be treated.
As the need keeps growing, so does the demand for well-equipped medical facilities. Not to mention the fact that most existing medical facilities in large parts of Syria and Iraq have been destroyed. The result is a situation in which the need for instant maternity care has become a daily matter of life and death for women and babies.
Right now 6 Maternitainers in Iraq and Syria each provide hundreds of women a safe place to be treated and deliver their babies, every month. Each one of the Maternitainer is adapted to local needs.
The Maternitainer consists of a treatment/delivery room and a recovery area. It has a toilet and shower, storage space and comes fully stocked with consumables, medicines and equipment. It can be placed on the ground or on the back of a truck for even higher mobility.
The major advantage of a mobile maternity is the flexibility to cover large areas. For example, it can travel on refugee migration routes, temporarily replace clinics destroyed during attacks and it has the ability to relocate the medical unit when demand is (geographically) shifting. The configuration and content of the Maternitainer can be changed upon request.
Due to the multifunctional use of the Maternitainer we hope that victims of gender-based are more inclined to seek medical care since the care can be obtained in a ‘neutral’ environment, avoiding possible moral and cultural stigmatization.
