Afya Foundation Gains Momentum with #Deliverababytoday Campaign-$25 Can Save a Life

Feb. 8, 2015 - PRLog -- The Afya Foundation is campaigning to collect, pack and ship 10,000 lifesaving birth kits to Ghana by Mothers Day, 2015.  Working closely with Matilda Amissah Arthur, the Second Lady of Ghana, Afya's project will positively impact the lives of thousands of expectant mothers and their newborns.

The campaign encourages the public to join the movement #deliverababytoday with a donation of $25.00 which covers the collection, packing and shipping of a birth kit.

The Afya Foundation, a well-respected medical surplus recovery organization in New York, collects the donated components required to fill the birth kits, while thousands of volunteers sort and pack the kits for shipment abroad.

When asked about the birth kit campaign Danielle Butin, Afya’s Executive Director said, “It is incomprehensible that in developing nations, 1 in 13 women women die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. We know the impact of birth kits, we know they have a huge impact on saving lives for expectant mothers and we have to act now. We can’t be privy to this information, and not respond. Our ethical responsibility is to give voice to those who have traditionally not been heard or responded to proactively.”

“I cannot wait for the container to arrive in Accra,” says Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur, 2nd Lady of Ghana in a recent correspondence. “It will bless several hospitals/clinics and put smiles on the faces of many people. What can I say but thank you Afya Foundation.”

Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur, is well recognized internationally for her commitment to maternal health and has funded previous shipments of Afya’s maternal health supplies to Ghana.

Ghana is working to reduce maternal and child mortality rates by 75% as part of its commitment to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Since 2001, the government has implemented several programs to improve maternal and children’s health including their Making Pregnancy Safer Initiative, Maternal and Neonatal Health Programme and an Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) program. The goal of these initiatives is to increase the number of highly trained midwives and to improve access to basic maternal health facilities and supplies. While Ghana has made significant progress toward lowering its mortality rates, the United Nations Development Programme reports only a 25% reduction in the Under-Five Mortality rate since 2000 – a critical lack of medical supplies is preventing the country from meeting its maternal and children’s health goals.

ABOUT AFYA FOUNDATION

AFYA Foundation’s mission is to recover targeted surplus medical supplies, hospital equipment and humanitarian provisions from healthcare, corporate and private communities in order to establish a categorized and consolidated inventory and rapidly expedite it in times of disaster and support ongoing health initiatives in Africa and the Caribbean. For more information, visit http://www.afyafoundation.org.

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Media Note: Interviews and additional information are available upon request. Submit all inquiries to Danielle Butin at danielle.butin@afyafoundation.org or call 914-920-5081**