Medical student saves lives abroad

A medical student from Cardiff has been helping to train midwives in Ghana so that they can save the lives of women giving birth there.

One in eight women die in Africa because of complications during pregnancy.

Mike McGovern is a fourth year medical student at Cardiff University and he’s been teaching midwives with the help of a training model developed here in Wales.

It was his first experience of working in Africa and he found many hospitals unwelcoming places for women to give birth with little privacy.

But Mike hopes the training, which involves acting out realistic scenarios, will not only help midwives save lives but also make childbirth a more positive experience for women in the future.

It’s hoped the pilot scheme will also be adopted in other parts of Africa and around the world.