A silent guardian in the labour room
At a hospital in far-western Nepal, a small device is quietly changing childbirth care — giving nurses confidence, reducing risks and helping babies take their first breaths safely
Kailali, Nepal: In the crowded labour room of Seti Provincial Hospital in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City, nurses move quickly between mothers in pain and newborns taking their first breaths. With limited staff and many deliveries at once, keeping track of every heartbeat can feel overwhelming.
Amid this pressure, a small portable device – MoYo, a fetal heart monitor – has has quietly become part of the team.
Like other referral hospitals with heavy caseloads, Seti had long struggled with a shortage of skilled health personnel. Monitoring fetal heart rates during labour required constant attention, often pulling nurses away from other urgent tasks.
To help ease this burden, UNICEF, together with its partner Simulation Society, equipped the hospital with maternal and newborn simulation tools. In October 2024, 16 items were provided, including MoYo, to strengthen care through the hospital’s simulation lab.
One night, 25-year-old Sunita Devkota was admitted to the labour room in active labour. Her care team began monitoring her and her unborn baby with MoYo.
During the second stage, the device detected a worrying drop in the fetal heart rate — first to 100 beats per minute, then down to 93.
It was a sign of distress.
Because of this early warning, the skilled birth attendants acted immediately. A vacuum-assisted delivery was carried out, and within minutes Sunita gave birth.
Her baby’s APGAR scores were 7 at one minute and 8 at five minutes, showing a strong recovery.
For Sunita, MoYo was the quiet presence that helped ensure her baby’s safe arrival.
For the nurses, it was a tool that eased their workload and gave them confidence to act swiftly when it mattered most.
So far, three hospitals — Seti Provincial Hospital, Mahakali Provincial Hospital, and Baitadi District Hospital — have been supported with this life-saving technology.
