Just to save that Life

A photo story on maternal mortality in Sierra Leone In October 2012, photographer Lynsey Adarrio from VII agency travelled to Bo, Sierra Leone for a photo project on maternal mortality. She spent one week at Gondama Referral Centre (GRC) – a 220 bed hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) focused on providing care to children and pregnant women. In 2011, MSF assisted 2,262 women in delivering their babies at GRC – many of whom would have died if they had not received any medical care. As a result, the maternal mortality rate is estimated to be 61 per cent lower in Bo district than in the rest of the country. According to Adarrio, there are some great challenges in photographing maternal health as a subject matter. “Giving birth is one of the most intimate things a woman does in her lifetime, and documenting that can be very invasive,” Adarrio says. “Scenes are often graphic, with a great deal of nudity and blood, and I try to be as respectful as possible, while capturing the story.” Adarrio says her strongest memory of her visit to Sierra Leone, was of one woman, Zainab, who arrived at GRC suffering from severe bleeding after having delivered a child at home. “When I went over to her bed, I stood over her, just thinking about what a tragedy her imminent death was, simply because her blood loss was preventable, had she had the proper medical care from the beginning. I was watching her unconscious, with laboured breathing, wondering whether she would survive. Every so often, she would open her eyes and stare at me. And then close them again. Five days later, she passed away.”