The Office of Global Health Education (OGHE) gave 14 medical students the opportunity to share their summer experiences on September 3. The program highlighted different opportunities for global health electives, typically arranged for the summer between MS1 and MS2 years. The recorded program can be found here.
Altogether students visited India, Dominican Republic, the UAE, Japan, Peru, Philippines, Bolivia, Germany, Nepal, Pakistan, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi and New Zealand.
Rishita Chamarthi and Nikita Patel–Experiential Learning in New Zealand
Rishita Chamarthi (MS2) and Nikita Patel (MS2) traveled to New Zealand over the summer to participate in a childbirth education program known as Hapu Wananga. They learned about universal healthcare and local obstetric practices in Māori communities, and found obstetric practice vastly different compared to the American obstetric system.
“Where we rely heavily on physicians to deliver babies, the New Zealand system places that responsibility on midwifes,” Rishita said. “Midwifes are personally chosen by expecting mothers on government pages and support the mother through labor and uncomplicated births. Physicians are typically involved in high-risk births (i.e. breech births, gestational diabetes, complications).”
Conversations with OB/GYNs and midwives at the Taranaki Base Hospital, on the west coast of the New Zealand’s North Island, showed that not only did the surrounding community want to incorporate traditional birthing practices, but so did hospital staff and non-Māori providers.
In her OGHE presentation, Rishita explained that women have choices in their birthing journey, and that different options were supported, from home births to water births in the hospital. Working with a local team, she fielded different questions about the use of epidurals, number of C-sections, and maternal mortality rates in the US.
“We hosted community workshops for women and families about to give birth and teaching them about traditional Māori practices because a lot of their indigenous practices were systemically taken away from them because of colonization,” said Rishita. “To reclaim their culture, Hapu Wananga is taking an active stance in helping mothers reclaim their birthing journey as the women and children stand as the central pillar of Māori communities.”
During these workshops, the two contributed to education for mothers about traditional Māori birthing practices.
“One of these traditions is tying the umbilical cord with a muka, a fiber with natural antiseptic qualities, extracted from the New Zealand flax plant. And special biodegradable baskets are used to bury the placenta.”
In the Māori culture, it is traditional to bury the placenta on family land, or whenua (which also the same word for land), in a special basket or container to honor the connection between ancestors and the land.
“These workshops were not just important to reteach the Māori cultural practices to community members but also gave mothers the medical knowledge to stand up for themselves in their birthing journey and tailor their births for what felt right and safe for them,” Rishita said.