The Diary of an MSF OB/GYN in Sierra Leone

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Photo by Martina Bacigalupo, MSF

Photo by Martina Bacigalupo, MSF

The Diary of an MSF OB/GYN in Sierra Leone

MSF’s Because Tomorrow Needs Her campaign for women’s health investigates why so many women in developing countries are unable to access life-saving medical care. An integral feature of the project is the intimate journal by Dr. Betty Raney who documented her experiences as an OB/GYN in Bo, Sierra Leone for six months in 2012. Dr. Raney’s writings illustrate the raw fear and despair that both staff and patients experienced in trying to get or give this care in such a challenging environment.

“It was a terrible night. I feel like a boat that leaves nothing but death in its wake. I delivered 32-week twins by C-section three days ago. They were both… lying sideways across the mother’s abdomen. The second one died today, the first one yesterday.”(- Dr. Betty Raney, MSF)

Dr. Raney’s patients faced life-threatening unsafe abortions and other obstetric emergencies that disproportionately kill and injure women in developing countries, as well as the global problem of sexual violence. The stories are heartbreaking. Yet, she also highlights the incredible strength and resilience of her patients, emphasizing that they are  “anything but victims.”

“There are small glimmers of hope here at times. The woman in septic shock…is alive and I think she will make it. This is very unusual in her circumstances and our chief health officer calls it ‘a truly miraculous case.’…The healing properties of the body plus the resilience of women here amaze me.” (- Dr. Betty Raney, MSF)

Dr. Raney, and MSF staff in over 70 countries around the world, work to provide women and girls with the care they need to overcome challenging medical conditions that threaten their lives. Read Jezebel’s interview of Dr. Raney’s experiences in Sierra Leone and her work with MSF’s Because Tomorrow Needs Her project here.
Because Tomorrow Needs Her focuses on the impediments to women’s health, exposing injustices that disproportionately affect women and girls around the world.

#tomorrowneedsher #womenshealth #childshealth