Youssouf - Mali
"I was so happy when Youssouf arrived – he is my first baby," Youssouf's mother, Hawa says. "The whole family was happy for me. Everything went well. I arrived at the health centre four days before giving birth – I had felt a dull pain in my abdomen, but then the actual delivery went fast."
"The midwife walked with me to the pregnancy room. She supported me, encouraged me – it decreased the pain and accelerated the birth. After the birth, they used water to wash me. I felt clean afterwards, and my family came to celebrate."
In the Sikasso Region, where Youssouf is from, UNICEF has constructed a well at the local community health centre, equipping patients and residents with water to wash and administer care.
"Clean water helps prevent them from getting infections," midwife Oumou says.
"Before we had the well at the hospital, children would get sick a lot more often. We used to have to treat them with antibiotics at a very young age."