Maternity Care Packs Donation Drive
In Sri Lanka, many pregnant mothers may not have access to essential items for maternal and newborn care due to financial constraints. Donating maternity care packs for needy pregnant mothers can help to provide these mothers with the necessary items to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
Donors who contribute to this cause can play a vital role in improving maternal and newborn health in Sri Lanka, and their contributions should be acknowledged and appreciated.
Project Objective
Social impact intend to achieve through the project
- To provide a maternity pack containing essentials to the mother and newborn baby right after the childbirth, for selected 500 pregnant mothers. Medium to long term to expand the no of mothers up to 1000. In consideration of current economic environment of Sri Lanka and globally possibly having an impact on our donor base this project too will not be a time bound project instead targeted towards maximum reach.
- To ensure accuracy of data and most deserving population to receive pack Api foundation will collaborate with Dr. Nuwan Thotawatta from Matale District who in return will connect a network of gynecologist’s island wide with Api Foundation
Project Plan
Action Plan set in place to deliver Project
Distribution Drive – December 2022
MATALE
RATTHOTA
UKUWELA
Project Scope
Statics of Sri Lankan Pregnant Population and direct impact of Economic crisis to this population
- Sri Lanka is an Island nation with a population of 22.3Million and 14.6 birth rate per 1,000 population converting to an approximate figure of 315,000 pregnant mothers recorded island wide.
- The World Bank (WB) in its Spring Update on the South Asian region said that the poverty rate in Sri Lanka would increase to 11.7 percent in 2022, compared to 10 percent in 2019.
- Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 – pushing food prices upwards of 90 percent and sparking fuel shortages – has disrupted livelihoods and key safety -net programs, deepening hunger and malnutrition. Poverty Ranking – 25th from Bottom from 125 countries
Needs Assessment
Key Issues identified around the need
Approximately 6.1% of Pregnant Population is estimated to be teenagers.
The economic crisis has a direct co-relation with pregnant population and adding on to it is the hidden burden of adolescent pregnancies in rural Sri Lanka
Key Issues Identified
- High inflation rates impacting the lower medium and poor social fabric than rest
- Food safety and energy becomes key priorities including pregnant population
- Other health care and mental care goals are ignored
- Strain of economic burden taking a toll on mental health of Pregnant mothers their families and therefore having a direct impact on babies
- Economic woes leading into domestic abuse risking pregnant mother and baby mental health
Data On adolescent pregnancies in rural Sri Lanka
- Baseline data on gestation was completed by 3,367 pregnant women.
- Of them, 254 (7.5%) were adolescent pregnancies.
- Among the primigravida mothers (n = 1037), 22.4% (n = 233) were adolescent pregnancies.
- Maternal and paternal low education level, being unmarried, and less time since marriage were statistically significant factors associated with adolescent pregnancies (p < 0.05).
Project Plan
Short Term
- Reach out to Api Donor base to raise initial funding round to support 500 packs
- Reaching out to wider donor base in collaboration with Dr. Nuwan Thotawatte on Social Media
Medium to Long Term
- 2nd Phase to explore options of tying up with an organization supporting initiatives driven by women empowering and improving women’s social status through physical and mental healthcare
- Tying up with a logistic partner for distribution of packs helping to drive project logistic cost down