With more than 7000 babies being born in Luxembourg each year, this small country bucks the trend of declining birth rates across the EU and many countries worldwide, partly due to the foreign national movement into the country and partly the availability of medical support

Maternity wards at hospitals like CHL and the Bohler clinic in Kirchberg give new parents a safe start to the beginning of their next steps into parenthood. However, this is not the same world over. CNS works both in Luxembourg and in Africa and one particular country where their presence has been making a real difference is in Uganda. In Uganda 300 children and 20 mothers die each day from preventable causes. That is over 12 children dying per hour. Unthinkable, unbearable unimaginable in Luxembourg.

Furthermore, maternal mortality, that is the number of mothers who die in or shortly after birth remains reassuringly low in the grand Duchy at 5/100,000, when examining one community in Karamoja, Uganda this number leaps to a staggering 588/100,000 deaths. Not the same sense of security felt by the parents in Luxembourg as they book into CHL.

Miracles and Tragedy can be associated with children being born, and sadly some of these little miracles don't take their first breaths or die early in their little lives. Luckily, with amazing medical care, the number in Luxembourg rests at around 1.9/1000 live births. This is still too many, I know however, when compared to Karamoja, Uganda where a 10% infant mortality is normal the GD is blessed. However, CNS alongside partners in the country at Matany hospital felt these numbers were agonizingly high and through exceptional work, the provision of education and training for young women in nursing and midwifery, these numbers started to drop. Outreach, vaccination programs, traveling midwives and doctors into small rural communities have caused a staggering drop from over 100 deaths to 26 per 1000 live births. That number can continue to drop with the support that CNS volunteers and financial support can have.

To find out more about this amazing work into infant and maternal care please visit https://www.cns-asbl.org/maternal-and-infant-health-services

You can make difference at an individual or company level in communities around the globe with CNS, find out how you can volunteer or make financial donations https://www.cns-asbl.org/

Tessa Charnaud