CleanBirth - Saving Mothers and Babies in Laos
CleanBirth.org - Donate $5 Saves 2 Lives
We are having such a great response to our Baby Shower Hostess Cards.
Most people have found us on Pinterest: click here and follow us.
CleanBirth.org Board Member Shannon Lawton O’Boyle has done a great job of pinning lots of fun shower ideas, in addition to many other boards about Laos, motherhood, etc… Thanks Shannon!
If you know anyone who is expecting please send her our way for favors or Baby Shower Hostess Cards.
Meet Noi. Her name means “Small” but she is doing BIG things for CleanBirth.org.
Noi is an OVA employee tasked with monitoring kits’ usage and organizing our upcoming CleanBirth Volunteer training.
Her presence and continual contact with CleanBirth.org in the US, is invaluable. We now know what is happening and will have data to back up our good intentions.
Your donations enable CleanBirth.org to pay part of her monthly salary.
We had a successful visit to 5 clinics and a number of villages in Tahoy District, Salavan Province — the furthest about 40 miles from the Lao-Vietnam border.
The people were very curious about what we were doing there. They enjoyed seeing pictures from our last trip.
The nurses from our November training were glad we were back with more kits — and they told us the the women were pleased with the kits. They themselves felt good that the births were cleaner.
Here are shots from the day:
So we’ve sent the nurses back to their clinics with the kits!
The nurses will take the kits out to the villages on their scheduled bi-monthly visits. Since only 10-20% give birth in the clinic, they understand that bringing the kits to the villages is critical.
We’ve set up clear reporting procedures, so we can collect data. First, each nurse has a record book to record each mother’s info (12 items) before and after birth. They will also send monthly texts indicating # of kits distributed that month and how many post-partum interviews were conducted.
As another way to check the progress, we are paying one OVA staffer to spend 3 days per month talking to the nurses and villagers of each District about the progress of the kits. Your donated cameras will provide the pictures!
Finally, we are so happy to fund Noy’s work for CleanBirth.org. In her brilliant English, she will email nurses’ texted information and updates/pictures from the field. She will also coordinate the CleanBirth.org-funded re-stock of kits on December 20th. That day all 15 nurses will return to OVA HQ, show their record book, receive kits, a food/transport per diem, and a 120,000 kip ($30) “texting bonus.”
An absolutely wonderful training that exceeded my expectations. We have empowered these nurses to make birth safer in the over 100 villages that they serve!
