For a long time our club has supported the Birthing Kit Foundation and our Birthing Kit Day is one of the biggest events in our Zontian yearly calendar. Last Wednesday the 19th of February we had the privilege of hearing Dr Luc Mulimbalimba Masururu, Medical Director of Mission in Health Care and Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and an agent for the Birthing Kit Foundation in the DRC as well. PwC kindly provided us with their premises and we were joined by club members, representatives from our Birthing Kit sponsors, Talisman Energy and The Birthing Kit Foundation, and members of the public.
Dr Luc Mulimbalimba Masururu gave an excellent insight into the maternal and infant health challenges throughout the East African region where he works and how his work with the Birthing Kit Foundation not only provides birthing kits but trains traditional midwives as well as educating communities about healthy eating, providing education, and providing channels for traditional midwives to refer women to hospitals when complications arise.
We also heard about how the Birthing Kit Foundation was providing employment opportunities for women by employing them to make the birthing kits and enabling them to invest their incomes in small grassroots agricultural of animal husbandry projects that focus on the particular strengths and skills of communities and give them the materials to earn a living from this. Considering that the DRC lost roughly 5 million people in its civil war with rape and sexual violence rife throughout this time, the work that Dr Luc and the Birthing Kit Foundation are doing in helping to address social, economic and health issues, in particular maternal and infant health and wellbeing in East Africa, is astounding.
We have seen pictures and heard reports about how the Birthing Kits that we assemble every year change the lives of mothers and their babies is countries around the world, but to know that this project also works with communities to establish strong foundations to address the causes of maternal and infant health risks, is fantastic.
If you would like to know more about the Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia) and the work they do, please go to www.birthingkitfoundation.org.au. If you would like to also become involved in the Zonta Club of Brisbane Breakfast Birthing Kit Day, please check our club website regularly to receive updates on how to register for this year’s Birthing Kit Day (www.zontabrisbanebreakfast.org).
