Birthing Kits - providing a clean and safe birth

New BKFA field partner, Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC) recently reported back to us on their first delivery of birthing kits. The message comes from Paho in the Treaty Villages of PNG.

 “This picture is of our 11 female community rangers who we've trained in the use and distribution of birthing kits. Each ranger received 5 kits (one as a training kit) plus an additional 5 for each traditional midwife in their respective villages. We asked the rangers to role play training village women which was great as we could answer any questions they had. Cleaning the babies’ eyes was something that they did not know to do.

The rangers have asked me to pass of their sincere thanks for the gift of the kits which they have told me will make a huge difference to the lives of Treaty Village women. The rangers were telling us today that women birth on the beach and in the bush using shells mostly to cut the umbilical cords. They also really liked the idea of using the string to clamp the cord”. 

 It is testimonials like these that motivate us to continue our important work, ensuring that kits can reach the women who need them most. Thank you RRRC for this positive message.

A woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is 1 in 13. BKFA partner Prime Diamond Initiative for Community Health (PDICH), is an NGO, whose primary focus is to help reduce the very high maternal mortality rate.

It is saddening but a reality to learn that during childbirth women are often using unsterilised blades and knives to help birth their babies. All too often, these women are unassisted or assisted by an unskilled attendant such as a friend or neighbour.  Tragically, this means that infections are common, and that the maternal mortality rate is unacceptably high.

Birthing Kits include the basic supplies to help prevent infection, and following a delivery of kits from BKFA, we hear below how important a Birthing Kits was to one woman in the community of Kakura Village, Kaduna State.

Maimuna recounts how she lost her baby during an unassisted childbirth as she took the delivery while working on her farm.   She narrates in tears how she struggled to lay her wrapper on the ground, pushed out her baby alone and cut the cord with a cutlass. She testifies that after PDICH visited her community, conducted health talks and distributed BKFA delivery kits after demonstrating the use of each item, her recent baby was born using the kits and that he is healthy and free from infection.

The good news is that PDICH hosts health seminars partnering with local health centres, they conduct basic health checks, and then distribute the kits to women in their 3^rd trimester. Where health centres are not within reach, PDICH give women the kits personally and advise them on the contents and use. Since many of these women are assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBAs), they are asked to ensure that the TBA is given the kit at the time of delivery.

PDICH say “We will not stop here, we shall continue to advocate on maternal health until there is zero maternal mortality in Nigeria because every life matters”.