Women and their babies are important!
Yet for many women and babies childbirth will be one of the most dangerous times of their lives. Delivering at a health facility makes childbirth safer. FACT.
Mpingo health centre is a health facility based approximately 1 hour from Blantyre city in Malawi. It is a rural health centre which can be difficult to access during the rainy season. It serves approximately 9,780 people with basic health services and employs approximately 4 health workers.
The safe motherhood coordinator at Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) identified Mpingo health centre as a facility where there was a low attendance deliveries. The health centre averages approximately 100 deliveries in a year but based on its population, should have in the region of 489 births. It is falling short of the national target of 90% skilled birth attendance and district target of 60%.
Inspired by the Finnish baby box, we are embarking on a project to offer women incentives to attend the health centre for their delivery. In the 1930's Finland had one of the worst infant mortality rates in Europe. After introducing the Baby Box, its infant mortality rate declined dramatically. The tradition continues today, where Finland has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world.
Malawi Baby Boxes
The baby box contains essential items to give a head start including:
- Baby Crib and Mattress
- Chitenje (material wrap to swaddle the baby)
- Baby blanket, baby hat and baby clothes
- Soap, chord clamp, condoms, keyring torch, pads and toiletry samples
- Women's bra and underwear
Wherever possible, items will be made locally (baby crib, mattress, chitenje, soap and toiletries). This enables us to support local businesses as well reduce costs and times related to shipping. This is an important aspect of sustainability. Donated and good condition baby clothes, blankets and hats are transported around medical textbooks which are shipped to Malawi 3x per year for another organisation.
Each mother and baby box costs approximately £25. We're aiming to make 500 over a 12 month period. Meaning we need to raise £11,250 over 12 months! For the first 6 months, we're aiming to raise £5000 and then repeat this in the second half of the year.
Who are we?
Patience and Tamsin have been working together on different fundraising projects in Malawi since the Covid pandemic started in 2020. Patience is a pharmacist working in Blantyre and Tamsin is a doctor. Tamsin came out to Malawi in September 2021 to set up projects related to Medic to Medic fundraising and worked with Patience closely. They share a love of health and helping others (as well as tailoring and chitenje) and want to do meaningful projects at the community level.