The inspiration for Project Selma came from this remarkable documentary (in Arabic). It tells the story of three kabilas (volunteer traditional midwives). One has delivered over 4000 babies, travelling from mountain village to mountain village on a donkey. They don’t have access to simple pain relief or sterile equipment. Watching it, it seems that a tiny amount of financial support could make a big difference.
A quick web search reveals other avenues: eight hours from Marrakesh, this maternity hospital in Tazarine (in French, pdf) was built for 69,300 Euros.
A recent Economist article, lessons from a frugal innovator, offers inspiration from Indian healthcare: ‘LifeSpring Hospitals, a chain of small maternity hospitals around Hyderabad… offers normal deliveries attended by private doctors for just $40 in its general ward, and Caesarean sections for about $140′. We’d love it if Project Selma was market driven and self-sustaining.
In all, we are slightly daunted by the amount of information to absorb. But we are aided by some great advisers. In particular, it was wonderful to discover that our aunt has written a book on pregnancy and birthing in Africa.
We are in the research stage and we’d love to hear any ideas. If you have any suggestions, or recommendations for reading, please leave a comment below.
