the 2h project

There are a lot of great people in the world. We're just lucky enough to run into a few! Over 12 months ago we met the team from Kent Town Rotary. Hatching a plan to refurb the maternity wing of the Battambang Provincial Hospital we recently sent two containers of equipment on their way to Cambodia!

The guys at Adelaide Eye and Laser Centre have been at it again! This time Karen O'Reilly AELC's new Administration Manager found a few pieces of equipment that are on their way to make a huge difference to avoidable blindness in Cambodia.

The last 18 months have been anything but straight forward for Neil Sheere. In the middle of 2009 Neil was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer. Like most people he was shocked to discover his body was carrying the rogue cells. While the road to recovery has been a tough one we're pleased to announce - Sheerey's back!

Development. Not always the beacon of hope we want it to be. It can mean so many things to so many people. For some it can seem a backward step or an afront to what's familiar. Not necessarily welcome or appreciated. 

Safe Arrivals 2010 takes to the skies. On board to deliver this year's training Kate is joined by an inspiring team of dedicated professionals!

Lois McKellar heads off for a second year in a row, while Jo Gray, Pauline Glover, Jodie Knoop and Jackie Matear are looking forward to being on the ground for the first time. Each of the girls are registered practising midwives, with Pauline and Lois heavily involved with lecturing and facilitating the Bachelor of Midwifery at Adelaide's Flinders University and UniSA.

The financial cost of having a baby in rural or remote Cambodia can leave a family in debilitating debt. For young mum, Nay Norm, the cost of having her third child at a health centre was 33 times more expensive than the amount she paid for a TBA to deliver her first two children. 

On the 31st August Dr Lois McKellar, Academic and Lecturer of Midwifery at UniSA will present findings from the Safe Arrivals research at an International Midwifery Conference held at the University of Ulster, Ireland. The theme - ‘Safe Motherhood - Developing Partnerships with TBAs’.

For Cambodia’s traditional birth attendants, reading about the latest birth technique in a research journal might not be an option. They don’t have access to the internet or a local library, and even if they did, the majority don’t read or write. So it’s hands on training or it’s nothing at all!

2015 might not be the end of the world, but it will be a time for some serious reflection. You see, that’s the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). And sadly, of the eight MDGs,  Goal  5 – Improve Maternal Health,  has progressed the least since 2000.

In September our ‘Safe Arrivals’ team heads off to Cambodia to train another 300 midwives. It’s hard to believe, but childbirth is one of the riskier events of a woman’s life – especially in a developing nation.