In South Sudan, 2 out of every 100 women die due to complications arising during the process of giving birth. This is compounded by the fact that South Sudan suffers from a severe shortage of fully trained nurses and midwives. In 1998, AMREF opened the National Health Training Institute (NHTI) in Maridi, South Sudan, at the height of the civil war to help South Sudan build its health workforce, and has supported the school ever since. It began by training Clinical Officers, who have become the ‘doctors’ in the communities where they work. Then in 2006, the school started training community midwives at the request of the Government of South Sudan. The institute is now training enrolled and registered midwives following a recent decision by the Government to phase out community midwives. Currently, 26 students are training to become Registered Midwives (three-year course), and 20 to become Enrolled Midwives (two-and-a-half-year course). Both cadres will graduate in 2014. Since 2006, the school has graduated 101 Community Midwives, who are all working within the country.
AMREF is a transparent organisation distributing funds of up to $85 million per year.
