UWA students in Crawley have kitted up to help save lives in third worlds births

A BATCH of 2500 birthing kits may save the lives of about 250 women and babies in developing nations after they were made by students at the University of Western Australia today.

“About every 11th kit saves a life, and since we started this project we’ve produce about 1.5 million, which have mostly gone to women in countries such as the Congo, Cambodia, Vietnam and other parts of Africa and South East Asia,” Dr Kimberley Strong, of women’s advocacy group Zonta, said.

It is estimated more than 300,000 developing nations’ women die from infections from childbirth each year.

The kits are for women without a clean and safe child birth place, and including a sheet of plastic, soap, gloves, cords, gauze and a sterile scalpel blade in a sealed bag.

Their funding of $6000 and packing was organised by third-year human anatomy student Megan Dodd (20).

Ms Dodd got 400 of her follow reproductive biology and women’s health students to help at the packing sessions.

“It’s $3 a kit, funded by the students, and they save a mother’s and her baby’s lives,” she said.

The kits packed at the university will be sent by the Birthing Kit Foundation Australia to East Africa and South Asia, where they will be used by mothers within six months.