Sunita’s Story
‘At last I have a baby’ said Sunita, smiling with her baby girl. At 19, Sunita had already lost two babies during childbirth. She was lucky to survive on both occasions.
After the loss of her second child, Sunita attended an antenatal clinic in her village funded by aid from Australia. Here she learnt how to prepare nutritious food with local produce. Sunita and her family had the resources for improved nutrition but lacked the necessary knowledge. For example, a chapatti is usually made from wheat or corn flour while a more nutritious chapatti can be made from wheat, corn, millet, and pumpkin leaves.
The clinic identified the cause of Sunita’s loss of her child in childbirth to be a lack of nutrition and a pregnancy too soon after her first one. Her culture places a high value on producing children and Sunita felt pressure to deliver children quickly.
After the loss of her second child Sunita suffered more weight loss and depression. Sunita wept as she told the clinic staff of the pressure she felt to try every year for another baby.
Project staff negotiated with her husband to allow Sunita time to gain strength through a nutritious diet complimented by vitamins and iron tablets. Her health was monitored regularly by the project nurse.
Sunita soon fell pregnant again and delivered a healthy baby girl. With the ongoing support of the clinic, both Mother and child are doing well and Sunita is equipped with the knowledge to maintain the health of her family.
Send an email to Minister Smith
Send an email to Minister Smith requesting for a higher allocation to improving health care in developing countries in the 2010/11 budget.
Hon. Stephen Smith MP email: Stephen.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au
Making Maternal and Child Health a reality
Make Poverty History wants to make the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) a reality – to see poverty halved by 2015. We also want more government aid money directed to the vital work of meeting MDGs on child and maternal health.
Millennium Development Goal 4 aims to cut infant and child deaths by 2/3 by 2015 from 1990 levels. With only five years to go, globally we are only 42% towards achieving the target. In the Asia-Pacific region 18 of 29 developing countries are not on track to achieve this target.
Unfortunately, in 2008, 9.2 million children died before their 5th Birthday, most from easily preventable causes. For example, 22% of these children died from diarrhoea and 21% from pneumonia.
In the 2009-2010 aid budget the amount spent on child and maternal health will increase to $370 million, an increase of 46%. Total health spending in the 2009 – 2010 aid budget increased to $600 million, a 38% increase over the previous year. This means health expenditure increased from 13% of the aid budget to 16%. That is an increase from one in eight dollars to one in six.
Make Poverty History believes that by the 2011-2012 financial year, spending on health in the aid budget should increase to $1.18 billion. This will represent $1 in every four aid dollars based on government promises to increase the aid budget towards 0.5% of Gross National Income by 2015. Such spending would save the lives of an estimated 240,000 children and 26,000 mothers in our immediate region each year.
The 5th Birthday Action is a chance for you and your community to encourage our Government to do its fair share towards making sure that every child possible can celebrate a 5th Birthday.
Ways you can get involved:
- Send an e-mail to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon Stephen Smith, as outlined below.
- Order 5th Birthday cards to be sent to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon. Stephen Smith. Cards can be ordered from info@micahchallenge.org.au or by calling (02) 9453 1586. Or make your own 5th Birthday cards, using the text provided by Micah Challenge at www.micahchallenge.org.au.
- Either send the signed cards to Minister Smith or arrange for your local Member of Parliament to accept the cards and deliver them in person to Minister Smith or to his office on your behalf. This is a way to involve your local MP. You could add to this by delivering a 5th Birthday cake to your local MP with the signed cards as a way of gaining more attention from the MP and their office.
- Hold a 5th Birthday party with your friends, church or workplace to raise the goal that every child should be able to enjoy a 5th Birthday. Hand out the 5th Birthday cards with a message to Minister Smith to be signed by people. Take a photograph of the 5th Birthday party you hold and send it to:
5th Birthday Action
Make Poverty History and Micah Challenge
Locked Bag 122
Frenchs Forest, NSW, 2086
Or e-mail a digital version to info@micahchallenge.org.au
The photos will be put together and presented to Minister Smith. Even if you do not take a photo, please let us know that you have held a 5th Birthday party.
- Hold a 5th Birthday party as above and invite your local Member of Parliament and/or local media to attend. It is better to invite the MP and media early, to increase the likelihood they will attend. Take a photo of your local MP at the 5th Birthday party, with their permission. Go to the Australian Electoral Commission website at http://apps.aec.gov.au/esearch/ to find out the details of your local MP.
For more information on the 5th Birthday Action, please visit the Survive Past Five page on the Micah Challenge website.
