Mother and newborn baby in Freetown

Today I finished the Marie Stopes 2012 calendar by photographing at their obstetrics centre in Freetown. I photographed the doctors and nurses in the labour room and – much quieter – some mothers with their new, sleeping babies.

The number of women dying during childbirth in Sierra Leone is among the highest in the world. Not all hospitals have emergency obstetric facilities, meaning many women do not have access to emergency services when they need them.

Because of the services Marie Stopes provides in Sierra Leone, the organisation is known as ‘Di mami fo welbodi’ which is Krio for ‘The mother of health’.

HRH Princess Anne meets a patient on Mercy Ships

This week Her Royal Highness Princess Anne came to Freetown, as part of the 50th Year of Independence celebrations. I was the official photographer so travelled around in the motorcade and photographed HRH visiting various locations including State House (where she met the President), King Tom Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery (where she laid a wreath), Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary (where she had a close encounter with a baby chimpanzee), Bunce Island (where we all got a bit muddy) and Mercy Ships (the floating hospital currently docked at Freetown port, where she met staff and patients).

More photos from HRH Princess Anne’s visit can be seen on my website www.caroline-thomas.com or by clicking here.

Marie Stopes outreach vehicle in Bumbuna

I spent the past two days in Bumbuna and Makeni, in central Sierra Leone, photographing Marie Stopes operations for their 2012 calendar. Marie Stopes is an international organisation providing sexual and reproductive healthcare services.

In Bumbuna I travelled around with one of their mobile outreach vehicles which visit areas of the country where there isn’t a permanent health centre. As two thirds of the population of Sierra Leone live in rural areas, access to healthcare can be severely limited.

From their outreach vehicles, Marie Stopes staff offer reproductive health advice and family planning services including condoms, the pill and contraceptive implants and injections.

Sierra Leone has amongst the highest maternal mortality rates in the world with one in eight women dying during pregnancy and childbirth. Modern contraceptive use is just 7%.