Save The Children Campaign - Ending First Day Deaths

As I mentioned in my post about Save The Children yesterday, the new campaign which aims to end first-day deaths will be launched by Save the Children this Tuesday 25th February. Save the Children believe that no baby should have just one first day on the earth, and they believe that many of these deaths could be preventable. 

Anna Kari/Save the Children

We are quite lucky in this country as we have good access to healthcare and midwives and obstetricians who are able to ensure that our newborn death rates remain at a record low compared to other places in the world. In fact in the UK, according to the last statistics reported in 2011 there were 4.2 infant deaths during the first year of life per 1000 births, and these were deaths of infants in their first year of life suffering from risk factors like being preterm, having a low birth rate, social deprivation and poor maternal health. SIDS also affects these figures, with the current UK rate standing at around 0.36 per 1000 births. In this country, according to the Save The Children Report, one baby in every 1000 dies on their first day of life, and three babies per 1000 die in the first month of their life. This slightly contradicts the Infant Mortality Report released by the Office of National Statistics in the UK, but lets just say, the statistics are relatively low in the UK, and we have access to exceptionally good healthcare compared to other countries.

This unfortunately isn't the same around the world, and every year, 2.9 million babies die in their first month of life. The incidence of newborn deaths are very high in countries where there is not access to good midwifery expertise, healthcare facilities, sanitation or medicines to protect from diseases such as malaria and HIV. Somalia, Congo, Mali, Sierra Leone and CAR all rank as the most at risk countries for babies to be born in. However, even civilised countries such as the USA, China and Brazil have high incidences of maternal and newborn deaths - perhaps due to their very medically managed and highly insurance heavy health care systems, where the Caesarean rates peak at over 90% for Brazil and 50% for China and babies are often forced to arrive before they are ready, and where there is a very high teen birth rate such as countries like the USA and babies are having babies that their bodies are not ready for.

As previously mentioned, I have a bit of a professional interest in this campaign as an Antenatal Teacher and Doula, because I work with parents in the late antenatal period and early postnatal period, and often see babies and parents on the first day of their life as a family together. To me, the notion that this could be their one and only day together is just absolutely unthinkable. We always talk about that first day of birth, and I recommend to parents that they be selfish and keep this day for themselves and their baby, as they can't get these first magical moments back, and they are moments that they will always remember.  I can't imagine them having to negotiate other hurdles during birth such as no access to a qualified midwife, or fighting to give birth in a suitable environment and in a position which most aids the ease of childbirth.

For parents, the first day of a child's life should be one of the most amazing of their life. They may have been waiting for this moment for the last nine months, or even longer if they have been trying for this child for quite a while. However, childbirth doesn't always go to plan, and unfortunately not all babies are born to live.

As an antenatal student, I focused on the loss of a baby during one of my modules and gained great insight into what it is like to lose a baby in the first day of life. The death of a baby is a tragedy. The death of a baby is one of the hardest things a parent can experience. For many, the grief never ceases and they still mourn their loss years later, even if they have other children. Nothing can be said to make parents feel better when a baby dies, and empathy for the bereaved parents is crucial. When a baby dies, first time parents may feel unwillingly thrown out of the "club" they joined and could be living in limbo. Some of their friends and family may expect them to simply pick themselves up and move on to another pregnancy. Friends and family with young babies may feel awkward and could feel they are rubbing their own baby in the grieving parent's face if they visit them.

Each parent will feel differently about how they want those around them to respond when they lose a child. The empty arms of a mother respond in strange ways. She will have the added heartache of her post-pregnancy body carrying on without her - the milk coming in, the blood of the post-pregnancy period, the after birth contractions, the postnatal recovery, and all of it without a baby to remind her of what it was all for. Did you know that scientists have found that fetal cells survive in a mother's blood stream decades after a birth? Therefore, a mother will always have a connection with her baby, regardless of whether they are alive or not.

Most newborn deaths are preventable, with the help of a trained midwife, access to basic medicines such as antibiotics and antiseptics, and good hygiene and sanitation. These are not big asks, all it requires is a political will from governments around the world to provide the funds to train and equip midwives.

Anna Kari/Save the Children

Thanks to global action on things like vaccines, family planning and the treatment of childhood illness, infant death rates have dropped significantly in the last two decades. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to cut the rates even further. A lack of political focus on newborn deaths is blocking this generation from stopping all preventable child deaths.

2014 heralds a unique opportunity to make change happen because for the first time ever, countries and institutions around the world will sit down to agree the Every Newborn Action Plan. We need to make sure world leaders take action on this and know the world is calling for them to do so. The aim is to save the lives of two million newborn babies a year, and to ensure that every baby is born with the support of a trained and equipped midwife.

SO HOW CAN YOU HELP? 

There are lots of things that you can do to support this campaign:

Firstly you can join the Twitter Campaign happening on Tuesday 25th February from 1-2pm to launch the new campaign, make some noise, and draw political attention to the cause. The twitter party will follow the #firstday and will be cohosted by @savechildrenuk and Chris from @thinlyspread. Nigerian midwife Catherine will be sharing what a baby’s #firstday is like in remote health clinics in Nigeria.

There will be questions about your memorable #firstday and the #first day of your baby's life.

If you’ve got one minute:
Please SIGN THE PETITION to ask David Cameron to put a global plan into action in 2014 that will ensure every baby is born with the life-saving help of a trained and equipped midwife and use his influence to get world leaders to do the same.

Please text a donation: a donation of £3, the price of a cup of coffee, could save 10 newborn lives by buying 10 tubes of antiseptic cream. Text COFFEE to 70090. You can also donate online 

If you’ve got two minutes:
Please share the link to the newborn campaign online and ask people to take action or donate: 

If you’ve got 10 minutes or more:
Please write about the campaign online and why it’s so important that the world acts this year to save newborn lives

Or if you are a blogger, you could join the 100 word challenge blog linky: ‘What did your midwife do that made sure your baby had a second day?’ Or, if you’re not a parent: ‘What did a midwife do to make sure you had a second day?’ Email Chris on c.mosler@Savethechildren.org.uk to link your blog up.

Please consider supporting the Save the Children campaign, and do what you can to help end preventable First Day deaths.

You can watch the TV Ad here

Save the Children Bloggers Conference

A trip to London on a Saturday morning is always a welcome opportunity, and even more so when you are going to hear about all of the fantastic work which Save the Children (STC) are currently doing around the world. 

Set in the middle of London, the Save the Children head offices are a hive of activity as people are sent out to locations throughout the world and the efforts are coordinated from various locations. STC invited bloggers to their offices to learn more about their work and the campaigns which they are undertaking to try and make a difference around the world.

To kick off the day, we heard from Kieran, who heads up STC's humanitarian team. Did you know that at any one time, STC could be responding to at least fifty emergencies around the world? In 2013, they responded to over 119 emergencies, including 84 new responses, many of which are small and more "localised" responses. STC currently work in over 48 countries, reaching out to at least six million children in one year. Their work focuses on helping children by responding to natural disasters, conflicts, and other humanitarians crises.

Much of the work of STC and other similar humanitarian organisations goes unnoticed by traditional media outlets, only being reported when it promotes human interest - such as the response to the Philippines flood efforts which made the headlines around the world. STC are currently working inside Syria, responding to efforts to help children there. You can follow their work by searching #syriacrisis on twitter.

They are also working in South Sudan, where around thirty staff are currently coordinating the response to the tribal conflicts which began there in September. STC have been calling for governments to put pressure on the government in Sudan to help resolve the conflict, and have also been providing support on huge ground.

Although numbers reported have been greatly downsized, it is estimated that between ten and fifty thousand people have been killed in this conflict, and over seven hundred and fifty thousand people have been displaced from their homes. Bad health care and education systems have lead to high levels malnutrition, and a severe food crisis, which adds to a multitude of other issues being experienced there.

On the ground, STC have sought to establish primary health care units, and provided child friendly spaces for unaccompanied children, ensuring that children have a safe space that they can go to seek shelter from untoward situations which can escalate during a period of instability. Within five days of the conflict starting, STC had sent out three aid flights with essentials such as clothing, pots and pans, fuel and household items to help those who were suffering. They have reached over 9000 people within the first three months.

STC are also working within the Central African Republic, where their work is having a huge conflict, but the conflict and humanitarian aid is very under reported as it is deemed that people don't have an interest in African conflicts and so they are not worth reporting through more traditional media outlets.

In the CAR there is a huge risk of children being recruited into gangs or to become child soldiers. STC have also set up mobile health centre's here, in areas where people don't have access to primary health care centres. Forty five percentage of children are suffering from malnourishment, and so STC are conducting screenings to try and identify those who are and treat them for it.

In some areas, such as in the Philippines STC have had to work in partnership with the military and other local organisations on the ground in order to implement the response, Six million children have been affected by typhoon Haiyan and over 4.1 million people have been displaced.

When a natural disaster occurs such as an earthquake, typhoon, or flooding hits, the public are more likely to donate to organisations such as the DEC which STC belongs to. The DEC have raised six million pounds in two years for the relief project for the political conflict in Syria. They raised over 48 million pounds around the world in the first 24 hours following typhoon Haiyan to help with the relief efforts.

STC take a holistic approach to their humanitarian efforts and so unlike other charities, when they enter a project or crisis hit area, they aim to meet all of the areas of need. Teams will try to communicate/coordinate with other relief efforts to find out where the gaps are and fill those gaps.

It was extremely interesting to hear Kieran talking about the humanitarian work of STC. Their work is ongoing and they desperately need people to donate funds to help with this work. Often individuals may organise their own drives to collect things like clothes, and household items to donate to STC to help with the efforts. This can actually be counter productive as it incurs significant transport and import costs and requires man power to transfer and distribute. By donating money, STC can use the funds donated to put back into local industry, and to source items needed from businesess on the ground' helping them to earn money and sustain their own futures rather than importing goods from outside of the country.

Next we heard from filmmaker Joe Wade from the BAFTA award winning film production agency "Don’t Panic", and creator of popular political satire show "The Revolution will be Televised" who has put together some new adverts for STC which will be released soon. He suggested making videos which would have an impact and would get shared to earn media. He also suggested following current trends to get your video trending - we all know how popular the Harlem Shake video became and the recent spate of copycat neck nominate videos have shown just how willing people are to follow trends - whatever the consequences. I really enjoyed Joe's talk and will be thinking about how I can put some of his tips into practice.

Following a delicious lunch, laid on by STC, we heard from Kirsty J McNeill  who served as a political advisor to Gordon Brown, and also served as an elected councillor in London, and who also campaigned as a parliamentary candidate. She advises STC about their political campaigning

She spoke to us about how people can up their power in their campaigning work, up their power in lobbying their local MP and use their blog to get traction from local politicians, which offers them a public platform.

Kirsty suggested that as politicians are quite vain, finding out what they are interested in will be one of the key things which helps you to get them onside, and telling them a story in order to help them understand the everyday struggles which people are going through, and explaining why it matters and why you are right will hopefully help to get them onside.

Although I wouldn't call myself a particularly political blogger (even though my Dad seems to think that I am always campaigning for feminist issues!), it was good to think about how to lobby to affect change, and how to get people to stand up and listen to what you are trying to tell them, so I was very interested to hear what Kirsty had to say and was glad to hear a great talk on using your blog to campaign.

To round off the day, Rosie Childs from Save the Children spoke to Gemma Raby, who is one of the midwives featured on the series "One Born Every Minute". Gemma visited Liberia as part of a new campaign from Save the Children which aims to save the lives of newborn around the world. The campaign to ease newborn death rates will be launched on the 25th February and to support the campaign, Gemma visited hospitals and clinics and learnt more about midwifery in Liberia. As an antenatal teacher, and someone working within maternity services alongside midwives, Gemma's talk was of extreme interest to me, and so I was very excited to hear about her experiences.

In Liberia, maternity care is quite spread out and women have to travel a long way to their nearest clinic. In Liberia, women need access to facilities, they need access to things like iron supplements, and malaria tablets and nets, and they need access to antenatal education. Most of all, they need access to midwives.

There are many women practising as traditional lay midwives, but they are not trained and have not completed the three year course which midwives complete here, and which qualified midwives in Liberia undertake also. The practise of Lay midwives has been passed down through generations, and they undertake cultural traditions to try and help women in labour which we we would find strange such as witch doctoring, having husbands urinate on women, having their feet set on fire and being tied up with rags to try and help them during labour. A six month programme is currently being run to try and give midwives the skills to try and help women in labour. The status that the training gives is a little like that of a maternity support worker. It aims to teach them good practice, and tries to help them give basic support to women in labour, if they cannot get to a hospital or midwife, or before they can get to one.

Gemma visited a Maternal Waiting Home, which is a little like a midwife led unit. The home tries to pre-empt women giving birth on their own in bad unsanitary conditions. Women can come to the home close to their due date and stay until three days after. Here they have access to clean water, meals, and mosquito nets. They can stay until three days after the birth, and staff will help to get breastfeeding established.

Gemma visited a hospital where she got stuck in and helped with a Caesarean birth, performed by a qualified doctor who had stepped in at the very last minute after a woman was having problems giving birth. The woman had been in labour for three days, and she was bought into the clinic from a remote village in an ambulance which was paid for by STC. The woman called the baby Gemma, after the midwife who had assisted her, showing the lasting effect that midwives leave on the women that they care for.

Gemma also met another woman who had not had such a good birth experience. In Liberia there is no infrastructure or public transport, so people live in villages which are very isolated and so it takes a long time to reach a midwife when you are pregnant. This woman had walked for nine hours, before finally having to give birth by the side of the road. She and the baby were both in a bad way and needed help as her birth had not been managed in sanitary conditions, and she had not had any support throughout it.  She had lost a lot of blood and the baby was not feeding properly.

Nearly half of all births go unattended around the world. It is shocking to hear that women don't have the access to a midwife during the birth, and don't even have the support of women like a Doula to help them through those vulnerable moments in life. As a Doula who attends women in birth, I shudder at the thought of women having to go through it on their own without a trained person to watch out for the signs that lavour may not be going to plan. Gemma's talk was very enlightening and I am grateful to her for sharing her experiences with us. 

Following Gemma's talk, as bloggers, we then got together to think about how we could gain support for the Newborn Deaths campaign, which launches on the 25th of February. There are lots of things that you can do to support this campaign and I will be writing more about this in a follow up post on Tuesday, so please stay tuned.

However for starters, you can join the Twitter Party happening on Tuesday 25th February from 1-2pm to launch the new campaign, make some noise, and draw political attention to the cause. The twitter party will follow the #firstday and will be cohosted by @savechildrenuk and Chris from @thinlyspread. Nigerian midwife Catherine will be sharing what a baby’s #firstday is like in remote health clinics in Nigeria.

There will also be questions about your memorable #firstday and the #first day of your baby's life, so do ensure you join in if you are able. 

Thanks to Save the Children for a fantastic conference. I can't wait to work with them further on this campaign and to tell people about their work. 

Silent Sunday

Social Media Detox

I have been really impressed this week with the lovely Ruth from Dorky Mum, who spent the last month living without social media

Her post has really prompted me to think about my online activity, and has made me realise just how much I could achieve offline, and how many goals I could see turn into fruition, if I just got off of Facebook and Twitter every once in a while!

I can't promise to do a whole month with no social media, as I do use it for work also, but I am going to try to stop  relying on the internet to fill my day so much, and see how much I can achieve if I just put my mind to it.

There'll still be blog posts, but maybe just not so much time on parenting forums and other wastes of time... we'll see how I go!

I would definitely recommend reading Ruth's fantastic blog post, in the link at the top of the post.

Floods in Worcester

Yesterday, I travelled to Worcester for a Uni tutorial. I have been studying various modules at Worcester Uni over the last couple of years, and so have spent many weekends and odd week days there. Having seen it at differing times of the year and in all weathers - snow, hail, rain and sun, I have become used to the changing landscape as the seasons move on.

I have never seen it actually underwater though, and it was really sad to see a beautiful city, taken over by brown muddy waters. I really love Worcester as a city, it is very quaint, and has some really interesting parts as you walk through it and look at the mixture of old and new built together in such confined spaces. #

The city is spread out over two sides of the river, and so having the main river bridge shut off, as it is this week, means that the city has effectively been split in two. Everywhere you turned yesterday, all you heard was talk of the flooding, leaving some people stranded, and others having their lives either disturbed, or completely turned up side down if the floods had affected their properties.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday of the floods. Thankfully I got home ok, but it was not an easy drive int he wind and the rain!

It's not where you started, It's how you finish: A Tale of Determination

Photo Credit: The Advocate

Today I watched an inspiring interview with Jospeh "Gabe" Sonnier, a man from Louisiana, USA, who started off with various jobs including one as a school Janitor, and has now worked his way up to become Principal of the same school. After quitting college to work in order to help his family, Sonnier married and became Janitor of Port Barre Elementary School Louisiana. The rest as they say, is history. You can watch the full inspiring interview here and read about his story here.

The words in Joseph Gabe Sonnier's interview really struck a chord with me, and I know many people who feel that they are stuck in situations they can't get out of. As I have blogged about before, I have spent the last few years completing adult study, and am currently undertaking more, in the hope that, as it has already, all of the study will lead to something better career wise. I would love to one day do my masters or even doctorate! I didn't have the chance when I was younger, but it's never too late!

Sonnier says "Don't let the situation you are in now define what you gonna become later. It's not where you started, it's how you finish". All too often, I find that those who were perhaps not afforded the best opportunities at the start of their life, feel that they will never be able to find a good job or get a good education. They feel that they are stuck in their situation for life.

As this story shows, with hard work and determination, you can make a better life for yourself. You just need the work ethic and the right mental attitude to do so.

What did you think of this inspiring guy's story?

Literacy Week at School

This week the girls' school held a literacy week. As big fans of literacy in our house, we were very excited to have a whole week dedicate to writing and books. We were also quite lucky in that it co-incided with a trip we made last weekend to the Roald Dahl Museum for eldests birthday, so both girls have been fully immersed in literacy this week!

I always loved literacy as a child. I would spend hours reading books and writing stories, and when I was nine, I won a national literacy competition. Both girls seem to be big lovers of books also. Youngest's scientific/mathematical mind seems to flourish over literacy, but her imagination for stories is fantastic. Eldest is a complete clone of me in terms of her flair for reading and writing, and she spends hours with her nose in a book, or creating stories, letters and poems.

My eldest little bright spark, took part in a literacy workshop with others who have a flair for creative writing. It was lovely to see her mind being stretched and inspired, and having some space to be able to concentrate on a subject that she loves. She really enjoyed it.

Her class have also been creating superheroes this week, and as a parent helper, I was able to work with some of them, thinking about the kinds of super powers their superheroes would have. The children all really enjoyed it and produced some great work. It was great to see them being inspired, and it took me back to being at school and being so immersed in literacy!! I sadly don't have so much time for it now!

Yesterday, youngest's class dressed up for the day to give them inspiration for their writing. She dressed up as a Pirate Princess. I bought her the costume at Christmas, and she looks so cute in it, so it was fab that she had a chance to wear it. She was a little upset that everyone just concentrated on the girls dressed up as princesses, and not her, but I am biased and I think that being a Pirate is much more exciting than being a princess!! Both girls really enjoyed their literacy week!

Sign2Sing Record Breaking Attempt

Yesterday, I took part in the Sign2Sing record breaking attempt with the Rock Choir I attend in St Albans. 

Sign2Sing is a healthcare charity for vulnerable deaf children and adults. To raise awareness of the charity over the last few years, they have organised Guinness World Record Breaking Events, aiming to get as many schools, businesses, choirs and community groups to sing and sign the same song, on the same day, across multiple locations.

This year, the song to learn for Rock Choir choirs was "True Colours" written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, and made famous by Cyndi Lauper. We were given a video to learn the signing and the song, and we also practiced it during our choir sessions. This is a song which is quite predominant in the Rock Choir repertoire, but being a newbie, I hadn't sung the song with the choir before.

I have learnt some sign language before, but I am always in awe of those who are able to sign well, as I really think that it is a unique language to learn and one which is so inclusive. We had great fun learning the sign language for "true colours", and it was really simple to learn to - you get the hang of it in no time.

I didn't manage to get any pictures whilst we were singing the song, but here is our Rock Choir leader Mel, getting ready to lead us all in the record breaking attempt. She did a fantastic job of making sure that we were all singing and signing and the same time!! She also talked us through the emotion of the song, which bought a tear to everyone's eye!

Sign2Sing need fund to help to improve the health and wellbeing of profoundly deaf people and achieve equal access and opportunites. Many of their services are delivered on a one-to-one basis, using British Sign Language, so they are a real lifeline for those who are deaf. To donate to the charity, please click here.

Have you learnt any sign language before? Would you like to?  You can learn the song in the youtube video below.

Crossing Oceans For Others

This quote has been a big eye opener this week. Many of us are very short of time. I myself have been chastised by my husband for putting things that other people want me to do for them over my own projects. This includes things in a volunteer capacity, work related stuff I have done as a favour, or for free for friends and family, and projects/tasks which I have taken on to help people out, rather than focusing on my work which could be earning me a good wage.

It's funny that as a charitable person,  I always seem to be able to find time to do things for other people, but no time to do things for me. My projects always get put on the back burner, and some people expect that I will pander to their demands and always put their needs first above my own.

It came to a head this week, when three different people assumed that I would go out of my way to accommodate their unreasonable requests, and jump when they said how high, with no concern for my own plans, thoughts or feelings. These three people who wanted to make demands on my time were all completely unrelated, but were just out for what they could get from me, with no reward or benefit on my part. Obviously, life is all about give and take, but at the moment, all I'm seeing is the take and not much give.

When you are the type of person who goes out of your way for other people, there comes a time when you realise that enough is enough. You realise that you have had enough of being leaned on, and having people make demands of you, and that you need to step away from those who expect you to go out of your way for no reward, and get rid of the voluntary things which cause you stress in order to concentrate on what makes you happy and helps you find fulfillment. This is what I will be focusing on in the coming months. As Marie Forleo says, I am getting my ticket for the "No" train.

I will be saying "No" to unreasonable demands on my time, "No" to attending meetings in my professional roles which I am expected to do in a voluntary capacity, "No" to people who want me to take on their projects for free because they want to maximise the profits for themselves, and "No" to companies who want me to advertise their products for free.

In the coming months, I  will be forging on with my blogs and my Birth and Digital Marketing businesses, and getting them running at the level I want, rather than doing things for free for everyone else and losing out for myself. A little selfish I know, but it's time to focus on me for once....