CleanBirth - Saving Mothers and Babies in Laos

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New Mother and Child Hospital Vientaine

A new mom and baby hospital opened in 2011 in Vientaine sees many patients and gives foreign medical personel a chance to get experience and teach Lao medical personel.  http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/sub-new/Lifestyle/lifestyle_The%20Mother.htm

I found this interesting:

“Those wards will allow us to lower the infant mortality rate significantly,” says [Dr Urs Lauper, a former head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University Hospital Zurich]. That contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

With the same goal in mind, the Swiss Lao Hospital Project funded a newborn delivery kit, which provides medical personnel in rural areas with hygienic materials to prevent omphalis (navel inflammation) and newborn tetanus. In the future Dr Lauper hopes to strengthen the health system at the village level and to improve the equipment used at Health Centres.

Here is another article on the subject: http://laovoices.com/childrens-hospital-opens-in-vientiane/

CBK Info: Uniject’s Single-Dose Oxytocin Injection

Oxytocin administered by Uniject is mentioned by PATH as a possible add-on for Clean Birth Kits.  This is info from PATH’s website about the hows, whats and whys:

The easy-to-use, injection-ready format of Uniject ensures an accurate dose of oxytocin in a nonreusable, sterile device with minimal preparation and minimum waste. The features and benefits of oxytocin in Uniject will help programs launch innovative approaches to expand prevention and treatment of postpartum hemorrhage such as:

  • Administration by skilled midwives, auxiliary nurses, or other trained lay providers.
  • Use in areas of limited health facility infrastructure and/or health worker shortages.
  • Overcoming acceptability concerns, including fear of injections, and safety concerns, regarding reuse of needles.

These benefits can improve the ability of health workers to administer oxytocin in hospital facilities as well as during emergencies or in remote locations.

Maternal Health: Central American Midwives

I am have looked into starting my CBK project in Central America.  There is a great article published on www.midwiferytoday.com about maternal health in Nicaragua and El Salvador, highlighting Mama Licha’s Clinic in Nicaragua and Doña Josefa Mira in El Salvador.  Great read!

If you’d like to support the work of Doña Josefa, contact Mamasol Asociation, or Hope Jackson and the Educate El Salvador project through their Web site at www.educateelsalvador.org.

My CBK Project: Initial Steps

I am starting to approach organizations that might be interested in Clean Birth Kits.  I feel strongly from what I have read that these this is a worthwhile pursuit.  Perhaps they won’t save tens of thousands of lives.  But shouldn’t every woman, during such a powerful, difficult, and life-changing event, have access to clean, safe birth?

I say yes.  And so I send out the first emails, contacting maternal health organizations that may benefit from these kits.

Maternal Health: Direct Relief International’s Midwife Kits

My best pal just sent me the following email: “I was reading my news (US Weekly) and some celeb’s wife had a baby and instead of gifts she created a registry through Direct Relief International to get midwife kits to mothers in need.”

See you can still advocate maternal health AND read US Weekly!

So I checked out their site.  The organization provides medical services to people affected by natural disasters, war, political unrest, etc…   One area of specific focus is Maternal and Child Health.  The services offer include: expanding access to care, safe delivery, emergency obstetric care, and obstetric fistula.

They are training midwives in places like Afghanistan and providing them with midwife kits — the ones the celeb was promoting.  The kits have very different items than CBKs but are incredibly important.  Here is a link to Direct Relief’s pregnancy support page.

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