Every 11 seconds, a mother or newborn child somewhere in the world dies during childbirth. While much progress was made in Maternal Mortality rates remained very high in many countries, including Tanzania, where the majority of Moravian women live. Poor infection control practices during childbirth is a critical factor leading to life-threatening maternal and newborn sepsis.
Team Coordinator- Natalie Johnson
A Clean Birth Kit or Birthing Kit is a small toolkit of items that help women have cleaner and safer birthing experiences.
You can collect items and drop them off at our office in Cedarhyrst. If you live in other areas, please contact us at [email protected] or call 336-422-6810, and we will tell you if a similiar effort is being done in our area.
Birthing Kits
A list of Supplies:
- One bar of soap 1.74 x 1 x 1 inches (for the birth attendant to wash her hands). Use a hotel-size soap or cut a regular bar of soap into 1/8-sized pieces. (Microwave the bar of soap for 30 seconds to soften it for cutting).
- One pair of plastic gloves 8 x 5 inches, if gloves are thin include 2 sets (for the birth attendant to wear).
- Five squares of gauze (to wipe the mother’s perineum and baby’s eyes). Individually (preferred) wrapped gauze pieces should be about 10 x 10 centimeters or 3 x 3 inches. On Amazon.com
- One disposable #10 scalpel six inches long (to cut the cord). On Amazon.com
- Three pieces of SOFT, cotton string (two for tying the cord, one for “just in case”). String should be about 30 centimeters or 10 inches long. A good (but more expensive) alternative is umbilical tape.
- One plastic sheet (for a clean birthing surface). Sheet should be 4 ml thick, approximately 36 x 72 inches, and can be purchased at a hardware store. Easiest to buy in bulk on Amazon.comor hardware store – and cut into pieces. If you buy 12 feet wide (it comes folded in box), you can cut into 3 pieces x 72 inches.
- One gallon-size ziplock freezer bag 11 x 11 inches — preferably the type without a “zipper” which can pop off when the bags are flattened for packing. The bag is used to pack the contents of the kit and can be used for cleanup after the birth.
- One flannel receiving blanket. Additionally, you can send two flannelette receiving blankets, each 1 yard/meter square. You can purchase these (example) already made or purchase fabric and cut it with pinking shears to prevent fraying. If using blankets that are thin or not bound please include one bound and one not bound in each kit. One is used to dry and stimulate the baby, and one to swaddle the baby—even in hot climates, babies quickly lose body heat.