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The average age of Cambodia’s relatively young, vibrant population is around 26 years. This is due to the high number of pregnant women, young mothers and babies. Many mothers in Cambodia still trust traditional methods and medicines when giving birth and the practice of regular pregnancy check-ups is not yet widespread. While mothers in Cambodia are increasingly turning to hospitals to give birth, there is a lack of medical professionals with the advanced skills and knowledge required to give adequate care. Because of this, the mortality of mothers dying from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth is 40 times higher than in Japan. Babies are also 16 times more likely to die.

Many of the complications that mothers and babies suffer from in Cambodia are wholly preventable. For this reason, Japan Heart strives to make pregnancy check-ups a common habit among the communities where we work. We have been operating our perinatal department since 2016 where we have a 4D ultrasound machine. Moreover, our local midwives learn on the job from Japanese midwives in how to safely assist with child delivery. At our hospital we perform over 3000 pregnancy check-ups annually and offer postpartum care and maternity training. Our midwifes lead regular maternity classes in the region on a wide range of topics related to pregnancy.