SHE has been learning how to deliver healthy and happy babies, but now a Hampshire student is on a mission to help Ugandan midwives using a model of a human pelvis. 

Josie Ogden, 21, from Chandler’s Ford, is in her final year of midwifery training at University of Bedfordshire and Wexham Park Hospital.

Along with fellow student midwife Stacey Turner, 22, from Somerset, Josie will travel to Uganda for two weeks to share her medical knowledge with locals, as there is little or no midwifery training in many Ugandan villages.

The girls have funded the trip by themselves, but were sponsored by Making Miracles Childcare in Chandler’s Ford and Hursley to pay for a model of a human pelvis to take with them for training Ugandan medical staff. 

Currently, those training to deliver babies in Uganda often have to resort to using the pelvises of the deceased for learning about childbirth because of the lack of resources.

The model pelvis the girls have secured, which comes fully equipped with a model baby and placenta, will help with this problem.

Josie said: “The plan is to help make it a better healthcare system for them, teaching them rather than taking over their important work.

“It will be really nice to make a big difference for them, as they don’t have all the key equipment out there that we have here in UK hospitals. 

“I think both of us will try to go back over there if we can in the future - the charity go a few times a year.”

Stacey added: “I’m looking forward to teaching more than anything, as we are still learning ourselves, so it will be great.”

Manager at Chandler’s Ford Making Miracles, Pauline Penford, heard about the girl’s trip to Uganda and decided to set a sponsorship goal to raise money with staff and children to buy the model pelvis.

Pauline, the children and the staff have had coffee mornings, bake-offs and cake sales to raise money to buy the pelvis, which cost around £200.

Pauline said: “I am over the moon - raising the money was one of my proudest moments.

“Knowing where it’s going and that it’s helping children less fortunate makes it even more worth while.

“The parents at the nursery have been really supportive and I can’t thank them enough.

“It is such a good thing - I am really chuffed to pieces.”

Josie and Stacey’s trip came about through their involvement with a charity called MAMA-Azur -a group of midwives based in the UK who want to empower and promote the advocacy of Ugandan midwives in order to improve maternal and neonatal health in the African country.

The girls will now take out the model of the pelvis and other resources to the hospitals and children and pass on their learning to the ladies who deliver babies in the country.

The girls will travel across Uganda to outreach clinics in Runga, Kiryabutuzi, Kigoroby, Azur and Hoima.

They will be working in postnatal, family planning and HIV clinics, and hope to get involved in the setting up of antenatal clinics, emergency drills and hand gel use.

They also plan to collect stats for MAMA’s syphilis project and outreach clinics, as well as promote the benefits of Kangaroo care - a method of care for premature babies which involves strapping the baby to the mother’s chest with skin-to-skin contact to help maintain a healthy body temperature.