Saving TWO lives with #CleanBirth

I just got off the treadmill as part of a serious personal campaign to turn my mood around. Despite many awesome things that have happened this week (including THIS ONE), I have felt downright cruddy going through the motions of helping kids with homework, folding laundry, and other assorted routine events with a come and go migraine headache. But TODAY, I am turning things around by starting the day with exercising and saving lives.

Wait, what? Yes, you read that right. It's so easy that I'm not even going to put on a superhero outfit to do it (even though I have one right here..that's how nonchalant I am about it). I'm saving TWO lives - of a mother and a child - by making a simple $5 donation to CleanBirth.org, an organization started by one of my fellow World Moms Blog contributors to make birth safer in the country of Laos. For $5, CleanBirth.org provides a mother with the hygienic birthing supplies she needs to make birth safe. The nonprofit also trains nurses to teach mothers about safe birthing practices.

These are critical services for women in developing countries. We've been making good progress in the last 15 years on maternal health. After all, the maternal mortality ratio - the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births - dropped by 45 per cent between 1990 and 2013, but we can do so much better for our sisters in developing nations. Did you know that the maternal mortality ratio in developing countries is still 14 times higher than in developed regions like the U.S.? (Statistics are from www.un.org website)

When I visited the CleanBirth donation page for their $10,000 campaign I saw some of the reasons why 80% of the women in Laos give birth at home or in the jungle without any nursing or midwife care:

 “I can’t take the time from my family to make the days' journey to the clinic.”  

“My husband won’t let me.” 

“It’s our tradition [to birth in the jungle].”

“We don’t have the money [for transport or clinic fees].”  

“The roads are washed out in rainy season.” 

“The nurses don’t have supplies or experience.” 

What? NO. No no no. Well, I may not be able to do anything about culture or husbands or roads in the near term, but I can darn well help make sure a nurse has the right supplies and experience.

Mothers around the world share many of the same goals. We all want safe birthdays for our babies. We all want to live through childbirth to share our babies' lives. If you want to feel great about yourself today, please donate to CleanBirth.org at this link to help them toward their $10,000 goal:
www.startsomegood.com/cleanbirthlaos   

Only $5 saves 2 lives! No costume or treadmill required.