This gift will last a lifetime

This Mother’s Day might look a little different for you. The coronavirus pandemic means a Mother's Day lunch with your loved ones has been replaced with a video call. Many mothers will receive chocolates or flowers at their front door, but how about a gift that can save lives?

When you buy a Mother’s Day Inspired Gift, vital healthcare supplies are sent to maternity wards and healthcare clinics in Zimbabwe and our near neighbour Vanuatu to save the lives of newborn babies. 

Each Mother’s Day gift pack contains a Kangaroo Care Kit, four newborn scales, two thermometers and a timer for respiratory infections to give newborns a fair chance.

Kangaroo Care is a skin-to-skin contact technique used to keep premature babies warm. In places like Zimbabwe and Vanuatu, where healthcare clinics often don’t have access to incubators, it can be the difference between life and death.

© UNICEF/Abdul

By placing the baby on mum or dad’s bare chest and wrapping them together in warm blankets, we can help regulate their body temperature and reduce stress. This helps prevent some of the leading causes of death in premature infants, including hypothermia, infections, sepsis and breathing problems.

It also increases the baby's growth, breastfeeding, and mother‐infant attachment – and all this combined can reduce the length of stay in hospital so mum and her healthy new baby can head home sooner.

By purchasing a Mother’s Day Inspired Gift, you and your mum will be helping save the lives of newborn babies – truly a gift that will last a lifetime.

Alyssa, one UNICEF Australia’s staff, first met Walter and Polite in a rural hospital in Zimbabwe. Polite had just given birth to their second baby, Unity. 

Unity was born eight weeks premature. She was one month old and weighed only 1.45kg. At this age, a healthy baby should weigh more than four kilos.

Staff in the hospital have been keeping a close eye on Unity, while they also teach her parents the importance of Kangaroo Care. 

With the support of UNICEF, they have also been able to provide supplies like blankets to help prevent hypothermia. 

Under the care of her parents and health staff, Unity is now gaining weight and will soon be discharged. “Only 50 grams to go,” says her dad.

© UNICEF Australia/2020/Moynihan

After seeing the success of our Kangaroo Care and child survival programs in places like Uganda, Cote D’Ivoire and Papua New Guinea, UNICEF is now launching a new child survival program in Vanuatu and expanding our program in Zimbabwe by providing over 15,000 neonatal care supplies to health programs there, so we can protect more babies like Unity.

Our Mother’s Day pack of a Kangaroo Care Kit and healthcare supplies can mean the difference between life and death for newborn babies. 

Purchase an Inspired Gift this Mother’s Day and help newborns survive and thrive, even against some of the most incredible odds. 

© UNICEF/UN0292657/Holt

Here’s how it works

1. Purchase a UNICEF Inspired Gift. From bars of soap for hygiene and health, to our Save-A-Newborn Kit, we have something to bring a smile to your mother's face this year, even if you can't be together. 
2. A personalised card will be sent to your loved one telling them about the life-saving impact they're having on children.
3. Real supplies will be sent to where they're most needed to help children and newborns survive and thrive.

It can be a scary experience to be an expecting mother in many developing countries. 
Now more so than ever.

By purchasing a Mother’s Day Inspired Gift, you and your mum will be helping save the lives of newborn babies – truly a gift that will last a lifetime.