Dr. Marie-Thérèse Koyamba

Dr. Marie-Thérèse Koyamba is a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Hôpital Communautaire in Bangui, a significant medical facility serving a large portion of the Central African Republic's capital city. Over a career spanning 15 years, Dr. Koyamba has dedicated herself to maternal health in one of the world's most difficult healthcare settings, where the Central African Republic's maternal mortality rate ranks among the highest in the world.

The CAR's maternal health crisis is driven by multiple intersecting factors: lack of skilled birth attendants in rural areas, high rates of anaemia in pregnancy, frequent obstetric complications arriving late to hospital, limited access to blood products, and the disruption to health services caused by repeated periods of armed conflict. Dr. Koyamba works at the frontline of Bangui's response to this crisis, managing obstetric emergencies daily and providing a standard of care that many of her patients could not access elsewhere.

She is one of a small number of trained obstetrician-gynaecologists in Bangui and is known for her resilience and clinical competence in resource-constrained operating conditions. She has worked alongside international medical partners including MSF and UNFPA, who have supported the Hôpital Communautaire's maternal health services, and has benefited from international training support in emergency obstetric care and fistula prevention.

Dr. Koyamba completed her Doctorat en Médecine at the Faculté des Sciences de la Santé of the Université de Bangui. She undertook her specialty training in Gynécologie-Obstétrique through the national residency programme, earning her Diplôme de Spécialité in Bangui with a period of advanced training at the Université de Yaoundé I in Cameroon, where she gained additional experience in obstetric emergency management. She has completed UNFPA-supported training courses in emergency obstetric care (EmOC) and has participated in WHO-coordinated maternal death audit training programmes relevant to the Central African context.

Dr. Koyamba provides comprehensive obstetric and gynaecological care under the challenging conditions of a resource-limited public hospital. She manages high-risk pregnancies including those complicated by severe anaemia, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, malpresentation, and obstructed labour. She performs caesarean sections, forceps and vacuum-assisted deliveries, and manages obstetric emergencies including postpartum haemorrhage (using medical and surgical interventions including uterine compression and B-Lynch suture), uterine rupture, and septic deliveries. In gynaecology, she performs manual vacuum aspiration, curettage, and surgical management of pelvic inflammatory disease. She refers fistula cases to specialist repair centres with UNFPA support.

Dr. Koyamba's contribution is her unwavering clinical service under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. She has contributed to maternal death audit processes at the Hôpital Communautaire in collaboration with WHO and UNFPA technical support, helping to identify preventable causes of maternal mortality in Bangui. She has participated in UNFPA-sponsored data collection on the prevalence of obstetric fistula and obstructed labour in the CAR, contributing to the evidence base for maternal health programming in the country.

Dr. Koyamba consults in French and Sango. She serves a patient population drawn from across the Central African Republic and is experienced in managing the clinical presentations common among CAR women, including severe anaemia in pregnancy and late-presenting obstetric emergencies. International aid workers and NGO staff based in Bangui who require obstetric or gynaecological consultation can access her services at the Hôpital Communautaire. Diaspora patients from the CAR living in France can also seek consultation during visits to Bangui.

Dr. Koyamba is recognised within the Central African Republic's medical community for her sustained commitment to maternal health in Bangui's most challenging public hospital environment. She is a member of the Ordre National des Médecins de Centrafrique and has received acknowledgment from UNFPA and WHO for her participation in maternal health improvement programmes in the country. Her work represents one of the most demanding forms of medical service in sub-Saharan Africa.