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Save the Children, PATH and Johns Hopkins University Launch Newborn Survival Project
Bill Frist, Minnesota Teen Join with President Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative to Announce "Better Beginnings for Babies Kit"
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Save the Children, PATH and Johns Hopkins University plan to design and distribute the Better Beginnings for Babies Kit to pregnant women and new moms in developing countries. |
WESTPORT, Conn. (Sept. 24, 2008) — Two of the nation's top political leaders joined a Minnesota teenager today to help save the world's babies and ask Americans to pick up their knitting needles and crochet hooks for the cause.
Nearly 4 million babies die each year in the first month of life — half in the first 24 hours of life — mostly from preventable and treatable causes.
Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, 15-year-old Mollie Juberien of Minnesota, and Chris Elias, President and CEO of PATH, joined with former President Bill Clinton to announce a new initiative to save newborn lives at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.
"In the short time that we will gather here at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, 30,000 newborn babies will die from preventable and treatable causes. It's a tragic statistic when the tools exist to save most of these babies but are out of reach for millions of families in poor countries," said former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, who chairs Save the Children's Survive to 5 campaign effort to reduce under 5 child deaths globally. "I've seen how these simple solutions save babies in Africa and Asia. Something as simple as a knit cap can prevent a baby from getting life-threatening hypothermia."
The initiative — a partnership with Save the Children, PATH and Johns Hopkins University — plans to design and distribute the latest newborn care advice and a kit — called a Better Beginnings for Babies Kit — to pregnant women and new moms in developing countries to help keep their babies healthy before and after birth.
"Research suggests that half of newborn deaths could be prevented by improved hygiene and better care practices by mothers and care givers. To give babies the best beginning, we need to make sure parents are prepared to protect a baby from infections and hypothermia, and often these can be prevented by improved delivery and care practices," said Mary Beth Powers, chief of Save the Children's Survive to 5 campaign.
The kit — a small rectangular purple and white cardboard box — will contain items to improve hygiene at delivery and promote proper care of newborns, and will be paired with health worker counseling to new moms on issues like exclusive breastfeeding.
The kit contents will vary by country, and may contain items such as soap for washing, a new blade for cutting the umbilical cord and a clean string for tying the cord. Other items may include gloves and a plastic apron to protect the birth attendant, and a large plastic sheet on which to deliver the baby. Each kit will be coupled with a knit cap to keep a baby warm during the first critical hours and days after birth. The knit caps will be provided by U.S. knitters and crocheters through Save the Children's Knit One, Save One campaign. (Read more at www.savethechildren.org/knitonesaveone.)
The program will be rolled out to seven countries in Africa and Asia over five years. The proposed countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mali and Mozambique.
Juberien traveled with Save the Children in 2007 to distribute handmade knit caps that she and other Americans made to moms and newborns in Bangladesh. Read her blog about that trip here: http://www.savethechildren.org/campaigns/caps-to-the-capital/teen-knitter-bangladesh-blog.html.
