A midwife from Airedale Hospital is travelling to Nigeria to teach people how to deliver babies safely.

Shona Featherstone will train staff at the Living Hope Hospital, in Ile Ife, in the hope of saving more mothers’ lives during childbirth.

It will be her second visit to the area in two years and Shona said she was looking forward to seeing the progress made since her last visit in August 2007.

She said: “Last time I went I thought I was going to train 30 people, but by the time I was there 300 people attended the course and 1,000 people got free health care.

“In Nigeria people have to pay for their health care and many can’t afford it. One of the hardest things to see was how poor people were and not being able to do anything about it.

“Only about 40 per cent of the town’s population deliver in the hospital and the rest have their babies in places like churches or their own homes.

“They are known to have around eight maternal deaths a week which is incredible for us to imagine. I have been a midwife for 15 years and haven’t once had a maternal death but over there it is a common occurrence.

“A lot of people criticise the NHS but we really don’t know how lucky we are.”

Shona is jetting off on March 28 for a month and will take with her equipment to give to the hospital.

She has paid for the flights herself and is using her annual leave to go but wanted to thank Airedale Hospital staff in particular for supporting her mission.

She said: “I couldn’t have done it without them. They have fundraised all year for it and given me a lot of moral support, which is very important too.”

If anyone would like to donate to the cause, they can contact the labour ward at Airedale Hospital on 01535 292211.