Overview
Since the peak of the migration crisis in 2015, AMURTEL has worked to create safe women’s spaces for highly vulnerable refugee/migrant mothers and infants from pregnancy through two years after birth. Our all-women team of midwives, lactation consultants, and support personnel provide care in our day center and in refugee camps, shelters, and other refugee accommodations in the wider Athens area. AMURTEL aims to mitigate the long-term effects of crises on refugee and migrant infants and their mothers by supporting women to be the best possible mothers they can be and thus giving their infants the best possible start in life.
Women coming to AMURTEL are primarily from Middle Eastern and African countries. Our social and medical services are offered in Farsi, Arabic, French, and English.
EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT GROUPS
The groups aim to support and educate mothers and assist them in forming community bonds with other women in similar situations. Many women coming to AMURTEL are from small villages where there is little or no education for females and these sessions are enormously empowering.
The topics include
- Reproductive health literacy and family planning
- Gender-based violence awareness
- Breastfeeding and all aspects of infant nutrition
- Infant care including care of newborns, sleep patterns, sibling adjustment to a newborn, safety in the home, etc.
- Mothering skills, responsive parenting, infant cues and communication with infants, etc.
- First aid for infants and children
- Social Integration topics such as referral pathways for specialized needs, education, and support in a foreign culture, navigating the public health system, and access to various other community services
ANTENATAL AND POSTNATAL CARE BY MIDWIVES
Due to linguistic and cultural barriers, refugee and migrant women have great difficulty accessing services in the public health system and thus often do not receive adequate care during pregnancy and after birth.
AMURTEL’s midwives strive to provide not only medical examinations but also a safe space to discuss fears, ask questions, and offer preparation for birth in a Greek hospital.
BREASTFEEDING AND INFANT NUTRITION WITH LACTATION CONSULTANTS
Breastfeeding is not only the optimum nutrition for infants but also provides deep and long-lasting protection for infant development in times of emergency. Most of the mothers coming to AMURTEL believe that their breast milk is insufficient in both quality and quantity and a great number have been advised by medical professionals to give formula to their infants. Added to this are anxieties about how to feed infants once solid foods have been introduced. AMURTEL’s all-women’s milieu provides the ideal environment for the discussion of fears and anxieties, allowing mothers to access their innate knowledge and basic instincts about mothering an infant.
PEER SUPPORT TRAINING
AMURTEL provides breastfeeding peer counseling training so that the mothers themselves may better assist other mothers in their own languages and culturally appropriate ways. The training includes modules on Antenatal and postnatal care of mother and infant, Infant and toddler care with an emphasis on breastfeeding and infant nutrition and Parenting skills.
OUTREACH
Our outreach team of midwives, lactation consultants, and interpreters visit refugee camps and other refugee accommodations in the urban area to provide maternal-child health services both individually and in groups.
