Bairnsdale local, Judith Walker, launched her book, Heart of a Midwife, which details her time as a midwife in Malawi, Africa in August last year.
Judith served as a charge midwife of a 30 bed maternity department and midwifery tutor at Malamulo Seventh-day Adventist Hospital from 1979 to 1983.
During the time Judy was at Malamulo Hospital there were about 500 deaths of mothers for every 100,000 children born alive in Malawi.
These were among the worst numbers in Africa.
Of every 1000 children born in Malawi, 57 died in the first month of life – also one of the highest figures among low-income countries.
These were deaths among mothers who never came to hospitals or clinics to deliver.
Unforeseen during Judy’s time at Malamulo was the impending tsunami of death caused HIV/AIDS.
The transmission of HIV mother-to-child was a terrible consequence, which can now be largely controlled.
Controlling HIV has allowed Malawi to get back on the track of reducing deaths of mothers and their newborns for which Judy worked so hard.
“Judy’s book is a fascinating and inspiring story of what a persistent and intelligent woman can do in improving care to pregnant women and their children when called from the comforts of their own country to one of such great need,” Professor Gilbert Burnham, MD, MS, PhD, said.
“Most certainly it will inspire others with skills and talents to understand how they, with their abilities, can step into a role of a change-maker for the health and the survival of those with great needs but with little capacity to make those changes needed for the survival without the help of others.”
At the time Judith was working as a midwife in Malawi, Professor Burnham was working there as the medical superintendent.
One part of the book tells the story of Judith’s close friends, Ishmael and Tabitha, who she had met while in Malamulo, specifically the hardships Ishmael endured after being unfairly imprisoned.
You can purchase a copy of Heart of a Midwife at the Gems ‘n Jams Opportunity Centre located on 455 Princes Highway, Bairnsdale.
