Frontline Midwife: My Story of Survival and Keeping Others Safe

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This lends the book particular significance in the current climate and is sure to strike a chord with readers. Anna also comes across as smart and funny and there are parts in the books where you will laugh out loud at some of the absurd scenarios she encounters. A wonderful story of how important providing the right nursing and midwifery care is in some of the most needing areas of the world. She describes one woman who discharges her ill child requiring life-saving treatment from the makeshift hospital, as she is terrified of her neighbour stealing her cooking pot. I think it was so brave of Anna to tell her personal stories about her journey in motherhood too, in such an honest way.

Anna has highs in her career, for example providing birthing kits for the traditional birthing assistants to use meaning less risk of infections, but with highs there are also lows, some of the procedures she has to do are horrific, its no wonder she has nightmares and suffers PTSD. Anna talks in the book about feeling she let some of the women down but after reading the book, I personally think the tragic events these women went through would have been even worse without Anna.

I love the hopeful optimistic part at the end however, with her daughter on the beach it’s really was very emotional and made me cry. At 26 years old, when working for MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres), in a conflict zone she attended a birth in a tropical storm, by the light of a headtorch. By way of a disclaimer, I worked with Anna during her time in South Sudan and have had the honour to know her during the rest of her time with MSF, so can attest to not only the accuracy of her reflections but the strength of her commitment to women’s health. Frontline Midwife is Kent's compassionate testament to the critical work of healthcare professionals around the world. Having has a late miscarriage myself and gone through giving birth to a baby, in my case that I knew would never breath made me really identify with her.

So many amazing and heart wrenching experiences that affected her on a personal level, I just wanted to give her a hug. Throughout the course of the book, Kent manages to slowly turn self-criticism into self-reflection, and to find more beneficial coping strategies. A sensationally powerful account of humanitarian aid work, the amazing people working in the field and attending patients, and the life-giving work of the medical profession both at home and overseas.An absolute must read - a story and a life that will live in your heart long after the final chapter! Her story is laced with personal tragedy too, after having a miscarriage on her wedding day and giving birth to another daughter who sadly died of a brain tumour around six years ago.