Blog 6 LifeSpring Hospitals: Bringing Maternity Care to Poor Mothers in India

                 Poor neighborhoods like in India tend to do in home deliveries for babies.  This method is usually not the best because babies aren’t getting the maternity care that they need to survive.  Doctor Rama Devi is looking to educate mothers on receiving care in new maternity hospitals instead of giving at home births.  By educating these moms she lets them know the positives of hospital care compared to the dangers of giving birth inside homes.  Estimates of two million infants die each year in India and usually within the first month.  Public hospitals are becoming more overcrowded and are expecting a good amount of pay in order to reside in them and this becomes increasingly difficult for poor income families.  Investigators like Jacqueline Novogratz and Acumen Fund think low cost maternity hospitals called Life Spring will be the answer to people’s prayers.  The hospital will provide before and after care and they can deliver the baby for only $80 which is a big difference in cost from the normal price of baby deliveries.  In the culture of India though it is the mother in laws choice of how the delivery will go and the cost so that’s what Devi must convince them of.  It usually takes a couple visits and talks of experience in order to convince the mother in laws.  The hospitals are filled with support from nurses.  Currently there are nine Life Spring hospitals and the goal is to gain 150 hospitals in India.  With this goal it can save the lives of babies and mothers.  

 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/lifespring-hospitals-bringing-maternity-care-poor-mothers-india/story?id=12459083#.UG9SsPWcHvE