In
Afghanistan, a successful birth is difficult, both for the
child and for the mother.
In that
war-torn country, the infant mortality rate is about 144 per
1,000 live births, one of the highest in the world.
Estimates
place the country's maternal mortality rate at about 1,700
deaths per 100,000 live births, also one of the highest in the
world.
For
comparison's sake, the corresponding figures for the United
States are about 6.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births and
about 12 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births.
Students,
faculty and others at the Baptist College of Health Sciences
would like to see the Afghanistan numbers greatly reduced.
Toward
that goal, groups connected with the college are organizing
about 2,000 "safe birth kits" to be distributed in
Afghanistan.
The
kits, it's hoped, will reduce both the country's infant and
maternal mortality rates, primarily by offering implements to
foster a more sterile and sanitary child-birthing environment.
"(We
want) to reduce the mortality rate for the babies and
mothers," said Rose Temple, president of the college.
"We need to save as many of those babies and mothers as
we can."
The
kits, made up almost entirely of donated supplies, are
expected to be ready by the end of this week.
They
will be shipped to Afghanistan, where officials are expected
to give them to the country's "birthing assistants,"
a sort of midwife, Temple said.
The kits
include a number of rudimentary supplies such as soap,
sterilization packets, a towel, gauze, latex gloves and string
to tie off the umbilical cord.
Volunteers
from the college and area churches have spent several hours
each day for the past week stuffing the supplies into plastic
bags.
"We
had a group watching the Memphis State (NCAA) ballgame
Thursday night while they assembled the birth kits,"
Temple laughed.
About a
half dozen people, including some students and some volunteers
from the Vietnamese Baptist Church, spent Sunday afternoon
packing birth kits.
At least
one volunteer considered it an opportunity to help that he
couldn't pass up.
"I
very strongly want to make sure that the people there have a
chance to get good health care," said Roderick Gipson,
who is pursuing an advanced nursing degree. "I hate to
see people have children in unsanitary (conditions) and lose
them to disease."
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