Mobile Maternity unit for Middel East
Hospitainer is glad to be able to help people in a variety of situations with our modular and mobile hospitals. This allows us to reach people who otherwise might not have easy access to certain forms of care. For example, gynaecological care is still not easily accessible to a lot of people.
As such, Hospitainer created a mobile solution called the Maternitainer. The Maternitainer is equipped with water and air treatment systems and a generator, making it fully autonomous. This 20ft container is placed on a truck for mobility and provides a safe, clean environment for women to give birth and receive gynaecological care. This way they can receive proper treatment and the design allows for privacy as well.
Privacy in particular is important, as the Maternitainers are also equipped to treat women who have been subjected to Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Women are often still shamed for seeking treatment in these cases, after all.
A while ago, one of our Maternitainers was shipped to the Middle East, along with enough equipment and consumables to deliver 300 children and treat 200 victims of GBV. The Maternitainer was requested by Dorcas, an NGO providing various forms of humanitarian aid. Acting as a facilitator, Dorcas provided the Maternitainer to the local NGO and they used their medical knowledge to operate it.
While the Maternitainer was designed with gynaecological care in mind, that’s hardly its only purpose. In this instance, it will mostly focus on providing primary healthcare. Once deployed, the Maternitainer will operate five days per week. Five locations have been chosen which the unit will visit weekly, spending one day at each location each week. In all 5 locations, the Maternitainer will be posted next to an existing primary healthcare clinic which, due to violence in the area, is no longer functional. By following this plan, the Maternitainer will be able to offer aid to an estimated 20,000 people.
Due to logistical problems and various concerns, it took a while before Hospitainer could actually ship our turn-key Maternitainer. However, Hospitainer is glad to know the Maternitainer has arrived safely and has begun providing aid to women who otherwise might not get it.