PHOTO: Rep. Mensah appreciating midwives in Zeanzue
By Emmanuel Mafelah, mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
SALALA DISTRICT, Liberia—a Lawmaker of Bong County, Moima Briggs-Mensay says she has proffered a Bill to the plenary of the House of Representatives seeking for the establishment of midwifery schools across the country, given the enormous role of Trained Traditional Midwives (TTM) in the health care delivery system.
Rep. Mensah said the Bill, when is passed into law, will create free schools for those wanting to become a midwives.
Rep. Mensah made the disclosure over the weekend, when she honoured midwives during a program held an appreciations for their humanitarian services to humanity, especially to pregnant women, The Salala District Representative also honoured prayer warriors in Zeansue Clan, Bong County.
The honoring is in continuation of the lawmaker’s support and encouragement to TTMs across the district before she got elected in 2017.
The ceremony was held at the St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Zeansue, Salala district recently and gathered hundreds of Midwives and separate prayer groupings from various parts of the district.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Bong County lawmaker noted that her gesture serves as a means of giving back to her “mothers” for diligently serving citizens of the district and the nation despite not being placed on the Government payroll.
She described them as lifesavers because they are playing important role in minimizing maternity deaths in the country.
“I was born by a traditional midwife and named after a midwife so I won’t relent giving my all to these caring mothers and I thought of including the prayer bands because they intercede for leaders and the country by extension,” Rep. Mensah said.
She then lauded the passionate women and encouraged them to stay calm and keeps putting more effort to safe the lives of pregnant women and girls.
The Bong County Lawmaker further noted that it takes love and passion for a woman to abandon her home to serve humanity while returning home without a cent; to meet the livelihood of her family members.
Rep. Mensah at the same time expressed frustration over the manner and form in which Traditional Midwives across Liberia have been maltreated by the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health by constantly looking down on them, thus leaving them with no option but to rather give up their traditional method and give in to the western idea.
She further argued that it is sadden to note that the numbers of safe delievry by midwives in the community are not being recorded but rather the complications encounter during delivery.
However, the female lawmaker, who is serving her first term in the Liberian Legislature, has raised the hope of some impoverished communities in her district.
During the event, the midwives and prayer warriors explained that they have for decades been marginalized and abandoned by previous lawmakers in the district but lauded Representative Mensah, for becoming the first sitting Representative in the district to visit them and put smiles on their faces.
Responding to the Honorees, the Lawmaker said that she’s focused on dispatching several developmental initiatives to every part of the district and is not losing focus by other politicians that are vigorously campaigning to unseat her comes 2023.