Partners and Sponsors
Sponsors
Support
The following are supporters of the Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia), and we thank them sincerely for their generous ongoing support.
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Partners
Partner Organisations
Australian based Non Government Organisations who support the Birthing kit Foundation include: Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific, Australian Reproductive Health Alliance, Project Vietnam, Australian Vietnam Veterans Reconstruction Group, 2h Project, Australian Afghanistan Volunteers Association, Uganda Australia Christian Outreach, Family Planning Australia, Partners World ( Myanmar), Panhom ( Sudan).
Overseas organisations who support the Birthing Kit Foundation include: Gar Tibet Health Project (Tibet), Kham Kampo Association (Tibet), Child Fund Australia (Vietnam and PNG), National Department of Health (PNG), Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (Vietnam), S-CODE (Vietnam), Revolutionary Afghan Women’s Association, Enga Baptist Health Services (Papua New Guinea), Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital (Ethiopia), Marie Stopes International Foundation (Madagascar, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea), Sisters of Charity (Malawi and Nigeria), Mission in Health Care and Development (Kenya, Rwanda and DR Congo), Village Focus International (Laos), Joshua Foundation (Tanzania).
Distribution of kits
340,000 kits have been made and distributed through 40 Organisations to 30 countries in the Asia Pacific region and Africa in the period from July 2004 to January 2008.
VIETNAM
Centre for Ecollogically Sustainable Development
Professor Quynh runs CENESA, which is a Vietnamese NGO. After agreement with The Birthing Kit Project Committee he received authority from Ha Giang provincial authorities to train Village Birth Attendants in remote ethnic regions and to distribute birthing kits to provide a clean birthing environment. The kits were sterilised in Hanoi and CENESA conducted seminars on their use. Medical personnel pass on the kits to mother in laws for home births. It is estimated that there are 7000 births in remote regions of Ha Giang Province each year. There have been regular reports submitted. The Birthing Kit Project carried out the cost and planning of the entire project and we plan to have further discussions with Professor Quynh about replicating the process in another province and exploring sustainability issues.
Centre for Sustainable Community Development (S-CODE)
S-CODE have requested funding to start a community development project in Lao Chi and also in Thanh Hoa which involves the training of village birth attendants and monitoring of the use and distribution of the birthing kits. They would involve pregnant women, health officials and traditional birth attendants in the preparation of information, education and communication materials about safe birthing and health services and in the design of easily understood guides to the use of the kits. These community development initiatives are being finalized.
The areas are mountainous and inaccessible and the local custom is for women to give birth at home, with or without a traditional midwife. S-CODE will work with health workers, TBAs and pregnant women to find ways to make hygienic birthing kits out of local materials to be distributed through the established system once the supplies of the projects kits have run out.
ETHIOPIA
Access to the birthing kits was a catalyst for the implementation of a Traditional Birth Attendant training programme attended by 30 TBAs gathered from Holleta township and surrounding farmer associations. The workshop involved education in safe birthing practices and identification of dangerous signs and symptoms during pregnancy. They want to integrate the work of Community Based Reproductive Health Workers with Traditional Birth Attendants to teach the community how to trace abnormal conditions during pregnancy. They were given instructions on the use of the birthing kits and 10 kits were given to each participant. A system is designed for follow up and continuous supply of the kits, where each TBA must report the birth delivery to Holleta Health Centre and there is supervision by the Centre and the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and their attachment villages. Local field workers are used and this invests in their personal development and ensures lasting contributions to their communities. There is a good opportunity for involving the young women who live at the Fistula Hospital to assemble the kits at some stage.
CONGO
Dr Elaine Dietsch who is a lecturer in Midwifery at Charles Sturt University originally took the Birthing Kits to Congo. She worked with traditional village birth attendants who immediately saw the potential of the kits to save lies. She liaises with Doctor Joseph Kabenga who distributes the kits in Congo for use in village areas where 70% of women deliver at home and traditional birth attendants don’t have materials.
LAO
Village Focus International received the first birthing kits in October 2006. They will distribute them throughout targeted villages, particularly in the mountainous regions of southern Laos where ethnic women traditionally give birth at home or in the forest. Many have no access to health services. VFI are putting together a training plan and support materials for distribution of the kits and a simple instruction booklet. They will conduct training days for health staff, village health volunteers and traditional birth attendants early in 2007. Six hundred kits have been delivered and will be issued to district health teams and a further 600 kits will be sent in 2007. There will be regular feedback about the project.
PNG
The Man-I-Kiau Co-Op Society has been formed in Goroka, PNG where 14 villages, with a population of 29,000 people of different tribes, have come together to develop community projects. They are training Village Birth Attendants who are supported by the hospital, have a uniform and are therefore valued. We have sent 400 kits.
The directors wish to demonstrate at local level the need for the kits and to show the value of clean, healthy birth practices. They will distribute the kits to the VBAs and hope to make the project sustainable once its value within the community is recognised. We will supply them with support for their efforts towards sustainable development and with 400 kits in the coming year.
PNG
Professor Mathius Sapuri of Marie Stopes International, PNG has been distributing birthing kits to clinics in many provinces of PNG. The kits are distributed to the villages and used by traditional village midwives. They have received a very positive response in these areas, where 45% of births occur in homes with only the VBA to assist and the incidence of infection is high.
It would need a dedicated worker in these areas if the kits were to be produced locally as they are remote communities but the training of TBAs adds value to the communities. There has also been positive coverage in the local press.
