Safe Mother and Baby

For refugee women, pregnancy and childbirth can be fraught with risk. Those living in impoverished and isolated settlements may have no access to basic antenatal services or emergency obstetric care. Refugee mothers are more likely to be poorly nourished and suffer from debilitating conditions like malaria-induced anaemia, a blood disorder which greatly increases the risk of miscarriage and post-natal haemorrhage. Even those with a tradition of homebirth may, in an emergency camp, lack the simple means to make their birth environment clean, exposing themselves and their newborns to the risk of post-natal infection.

UNHCR oversees the operation of maternity clinics in refugee camps and encourage women to access these services before, during and after giving birth. We train and equip midwives and, where possible, provide all pregnant and breastfeeding mothers with extra nutrition and anti-malarial medication.

Where home birth is the norm and sanitation is poor, we distribute our Clean Delivery Kit - a plastic bag containing a clean blade, a plastic sheet, soap, string for the baby's cord, a swaddling cloth and information using simple pictures. These simple kits have dramatically reduced birth-related deaths and infections in a number of impoverished refugee communities.

Your gift today could save the life of a refugee mother and her baby.