Dr Staci Davenport and the team at Béré Adventist Hospital are fighting some of the highest maternal and infant death rates in the world. Mission Aviation Fellowship flights give precious hours back, as the hospital’s impact reaches multiple districts in southern Chad.
Story by Annet Nabbanja
For Staci Davenport, a family medicine doctor and director of Béré Adventist Hospital, MAF flights are the only option to escape long journeys on bad roads.
“MAF flights are very helpful for us to maximise our time on site as well as to facilitate our short-term international visitors arriving efficiently, safely, and comfortably,” she said.
When Dr Staci had meetings in the national capital, N’Djamena, she travelled by road from Béré and the journey took 11 hours.
“Later in the week after finishing the meetings I was able to join a MAF flight on Thursday morning, and in less than two hours was in Béré,” she said.
“So, I was able to resume patient care the same day rather than spending the whole day on the road again.”
MAF flights are very helpful for us to maximise our time
Dr Staci has served in Chad for seven years, covering maternal service, procedures and consults and taking call for medicine and paediatrics along with two Chadian generalists.
Maternal services are particularly important because the risk of death during pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium in Chad is among the highest in the world.
“Chad has some of the worst stats in the world for maternal and infant mortality,” she said. “So, we offer deliveries and caesarean sections for free, and even give the babies born in the hospital free T-shirts to try to encourage more in-hospital births.”
Staci noted that these deaths are often a result of delay in seeking care, inability to access care and/or inadequate care.
Having various short-term visitors has often allowed Béré Adventist Hospital to provide specialised care not usually available in the country, and their long-term surgeons have been able to provide a higher standard of care than is usually available in a country where residency-trained surgeons are scarce—and almost non-existent outside the capital.
“For the local population, we provide an alternative to traditional healers and a place where even those with no means to pay for care can find treatment,” Dr Staci added.
“We also encourage women from the local population to have their obstetrical care in the hospital rather than in the village where trained birth attendants are rare and complications are high.”
Béré Adventist Hospital is the only hospital for the health district of Béré in Tandjilé Province. The hospital serves a wide rural population.
“Hospitals in nearby health districts also refer to us,” Dr Staci added. “Patients also self-refer from throughout the region.”