Description

A safe start to life. This gift contributes to projects that help support women throughout pregnancy and childbirth, and ensure their babies get a safer start to life. This may include training local birth attendants, providing birthing kits and support for other maternal and child health services.

How your gift helps

Pensamay is a mother of two boys who, with her training as a traditional birth attendant, is now also helping other mothers in her village in Laos to give birth safely.

Traditionally, most women in rural Laos give birth alone and unassisted, dramatically increasing the risks of complication and even death. Trained traditional birth attendants (TBAs) help mothers deliver their babies safely. These birth attendants are equipped with life-saving tools and clean supplies to keep mothers and babies safe and healthy during delivery. They are also trained to refer women with difficult labours to the nearest skilled birth facility, usually a government health centre.

TEAR’s partner World Concern Laos is working with a number of communities to train TBAs who help look after pregnant women in their antenatal period, assist safe delivery of their babies, and then follow them up in the breastfeeding period. TBAs also help educate others in their community about safe pregnancy and birth. Simple strategies, like ensuring a clean birth space, or thorough washing of both mother and attendant before and after giving birth, can reduce the risk of infection for mother and baby.

As part of the project, TBAs are each given a birthing “kit” with useful items for delivery, including a clean razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, and soap for washing.

Pensamay knows how important it is to have support during birth. Although she was lucky not to have any complications with either of her children, she did experience extreme pain and fear delivering her first child alone, with only her husband there to help. With her second child, Suthit, she went into labour and her husband went to get the TBA. The TBA was able to support and comfort her, which helped with the pain. She says the whole process was much cleaner, as the TBA knew how to use clean equipment to deliver the placenta, cut the cord, and clean her up after delivery. She was less susceptible to infection and the whole experience was safer and less painful.

Your gift of a Birth Attendant is contributing to projects like this one and making a difference in the lives of those facing poverty and marginalisation.

About our partner

World Concern (Laos) is a Christian development organisation that works with people facing extreme poverty to provide hope and opportunity. Its projects in Laos mostly focus on some of the country’s poorest and most isolated rural tribal communities, where skilled health care is either non-existent or extremely challenging to reach.

What you receive

• Choose from a printed card or download-and-print pdf card (or no card, just a tax-deductible receipt).
• Links to download-and-print cards are emailed to you after checkout.
• The amount you have donated will not be on the card.
• Printed cards:
  • A blank envelope for your card.
  • Free standard postage within Australia (5-7 working days) or $6 for Express Post (2-3 working days). Express Post cards will normally be sent the same day if the order is made before 1:30pm AEST. Please note: Express Post only operates in these areas within Australia.
  • Note: We cannot ship printed cards outside Australia (but you can still order the digital cards).
  • Note: We do NOT write on your cards—they are delivered to you to personalise.
• A tax-deductible receipt.