When AMREF – Africa’s leading health development charity - offered to send me a sample birthing kit to show the bare minimum needed to deliver a baby safety, I had imagined a rather large parcel arriving on my doorstep. In fact it turned out to be, literally, a matchbox.
The matchbox contained a piece of plastic sheeting to lay on the floor, a tiny bar of soap and cotton wool for hygiene, a piece of string to tie the umbilical cord, and a razor blade with some matches to sterilise it.
That is the bare minimum needed to deliver a baby safely. Equipped with these, the birth attendants in Africa, trained by AMREF, is the key to saving a mother’s life and that of her child.
The issue of childbirth and maternal well-being in the developing world is a focus for many charities this Mother’s Day. AMREF are keen to raise awareness of the difficulties many women face in poorest communities of Africa. Every year 280,000 mothers die unnecessarily in pregnancy and childbirth because they lack basic medical care. AMREF is working to ensure no woman dies while giving life.
AMREF, together with the creative agency BBH, has created a simple way to raise awareness and even help save lives – the ‘Status of Africa: Mother’s Day’ campaign. Their application allows users to choose a real African mother or midwife AMREF works with, to share their Facebook status or Twitter account with for 5 days. The app then automatically updates their status twice a day with their chosen African mother or midwife.
The voices of these women – at the heart of their communities - is rarely heard. By lending your social media status you can provide them with a mouthpiece to tell people what it’s really like to be a mother in Africa.
AMREF is asking people to donate their Facebook status, profile picture or Twitter stream to AMREF for Mother’s Day, 3rd April 2011. You can also raise awareness by tweeting about the campaign and including the hashtag #StatusofAfrica, to support AMREF’s aim to train more midwives in Africa who will ultimately save many lives.
You can donate your status by following the instructions on their Facebook landing page. Simply visit: http://apps.facebook.com/statusofafrica/
