Giving birth isn’t easy. Dr Margreet Wibbelink, a midwife specialist, knows that mothers need all the support they can get when experiencing this life-changing event. But medical care for moms is scarce in South African townships. This leaves many women ill-equipped to have a healthy pregnancy or birth. Often, it can end in heartbreak. “Where you are born should not determine whether you have access to equal and quality healthcare,” Wibbelink says. Now, she’s delivering the necessary services to families in underprivileged communities.
Wibbelink co-founded The Healthy Mom and Baby Clinic, an NGO based in Jeffreys Bay. The initiative is committed to bringing high-standard midwifery to people in need, helping prevent difficulties during pregnancy and assisting in labour. “If we could get every mom to have access to a midwife, I know for a fact that we would have better outcomes, less complications, and healthier pregnancies,” Wibbelink says. Offering a bevy of knowledge and an abundance of compassion, mothers have a pillar to lean on as they navigate their way through pregnancy, birth, and parenthood.
Wibbelink has also established an independent midwifery practice to further her assistance, becoming the first in the area to conduct home births. “The value of midwives in underprivileged communities is profound,” she says. Through her initiative, Wibbelink is closing the healthcare gap in impoverished areas. Where there are healthy mothers, there are thriving babies, in turn creating stronger families. “Knowing that I can make a difference in this world makes me want to wake up in the morning,” Wibbelink says. “It’s the most rewarding thing.”
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