Birthing Kits - providing a clean and safe birth

We are so pleased to share the story of Janeth from Tanzania, who delivered her son, Joshua, with the use of a Birthing Kit.

On 26 December 2015, Janeth was taken to hospital having gone into labour nearly two months before her due date.

Whilst Janeth was fortunate to reach a hospital, had she not previously received a Birthing Kit, the outcome may have been quite different.  Many hospitals simply don’t provide the simple essentials for a safe, clean birth with women expected to supply these items themselves.  At worst, labouring women are turned away, left to deliver alone or at home.

The midwife asked if she had a birthing kit. She did. It had been given to her by Hurumia Watoto, a small organisation in Northern Tanzania dedicated to improving the health of women and girls. This group had distributed kits provided by Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia).

With the help of the Birthing Kit, Janeth delivered a healthy baby boy.

Janeth says:

“At first I feared that the kit would not be enough and I asked for two on the day of distribution. But one kit was enough and I kept one which I plan to give to my friend who is pregnant. Many women need your help here in Tanzania because many cannot afford to buy the list of materials hospitals suggest – and this leads to many women having unsafe deliveries”.

Hurumia Watoto, based in Northern Tanzania are a partner of Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia). If you would like to support our work, please make a donation here.

Just $3 pays for one Birthing Kit. Just $3 can help a baby like Joshua arrive safely into this world.

Egoli Africa is a not for profit organisation based in the Netherlands dedicated to the promotion of empowering people in Uganda to overcome the challenges of their circumstances. One such circumstance is the high incidence of maternal and neonatal mortality. With only one medical centre servicing the rural target area and a catchment of around 8000 community members, many birthing mothers deliver at home, predominantly without medical assistance. This all too often ends tragically, with an infant mortality rate of 88 per 1000 live births*. It’s difficult to imagine but as a comparison, the rate is 4 in 1000 live births in Australia**.

With a committed purpose to promote the empowerment of women, Egoli Africa and BKFA are natural partners and BKFA are thrilled to contribute to their mission with the supply of Birthing Kits for a safe and clean birth.  The Good Shepherd Medical Centre in Kameke will support the program by recording how many birthing kits and to whom they are distributed. This data is critical as it will allow important analysis to be completed to measure the success of the program.

Egoli Africa say

" the kits are important to women as they now have some basics that will help them during delivery. Because most women give birth at home without any assistance, they don't have such materials. The materials are simple, but oh so important to have when giving birth”

Quite simply, the Birthing Kit is basic with just 7 small items included, but they are undeniably helping to give birthing women and their babies a better chance.

Will you help us to continue our work? Just $3 will provide one Birthing Kit.

To all our donors, thank you so much for your support of Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia).  To find out more about BKFA, please click here.

*District Health Office Data, Pallisa District, Eastern Uganda, 2015

**State of the World’s Mothers, Save the Children, 2015

Links:

• BKFA Website
• BKFA - Our Work
• BKFA - How to help