Ayana is from South Omo in Ethiopia, where she lives with a pastoralist community who regularly migrate with their livestock. She lives with her husband and young son and was eager to tell us how our health insurance scheme saved her life.
“When I was six months pregnant with my last child, I got really severe cramps and started bleeding. The nurse at the health centre diagnosed a miscarriage and said I could only be treated at Jinka Hospital, which is 150km away.
It was so lucky that we’d been contributing a bit of money each month to the Arbore health insurance scheme and I told my husband that here we had a golden chance to save my life. The Chairman allowed us to borrow the money, (about £30), which we used for transport to hospital. Sadly, I lost my baby there. He told me I had to come back to hospital next time I was going to deliver to avoid any complications. Over time we repaid the loan to the insurance scheme.
The next time I was pregnant, I also got stomach cramps. We borrowed money again and got ourselves to hospital. The doctor told me my baby was alive but was badly positioned in my womb, so I wouldn’t be able to give birth naturally. They helped me to give birth by caesarean which of course I could never have had done in Arbore.
When I returned home with my healthy newborn son, the community was so delighted and we celebrated for days!”
Last modified: 27/04/2012
