Baby Blankets Support Esther's Recovery from Pneumonia

“A child should not be exposed to the cold; it should be kept warm always.”

These are the words of wisdom that 34-year-old Margaret Ayo, a teacher and mother of seven, recites to every mother with a child under the age of five.

Margaret, who stays in Cam Cam village, Kitgum district, is nursing her nine-month-old daughter, Esther Agelorwot, who is sick from pneumonia.

Esther has been sick for around two weeks, having spent one week admitted in hospital.

Apart from the medication that Esther is receiving from hospital, something else unexpected is supporting her recovery. This is a baby blanket, or swaddling blanket, that has become one of Margaret’s treasured possessions.

“Whenever it gets cold, I wrap her in it so that she feels warm. Even after bathing her I put it around her so that the cold does not get through to her,” Margaret says.

Keeping babies healthy

She explains that the nurse at the hospital told her that although Pneumonia is caused by bacteria, it is exacerbated by exposure to the cold. She explains that it has been really cold lately because of the rainy season.

Margaret says she received the blanket from Kitgum Government Hospital when she had taken Esther for immunisation.

“I was very happy to receive it, and so were my friends who were at the hospital that day.”

In a district where most of the people are low-income earners and can only afford the basics of life, it goes without saying that clothing, particularly warm clothes, are a luxury.

In cognizance of such a need, World Vision Uganda received 138 baby blankets in a Gifts-in-Kind consignment from World Vision Australia. The blankets went to Kitgum ADP, which is funded by WV Australia, and were taken on by the East African Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (EAMNCH) project, also funded by Australia and located in Kitgum district.

... ensuring that public places are made convenient for mothers...

With one of its goals to see 5,920 children completing immunisation, the EAMNCH project teamed up with a government-supported hospital, Kitgum Government Hospital, to make hospitals more baby-friendly. So on World Breastfeeding Day 2012, the EAMNCH project launched the ‘baby-friendly hospital’ initiative in Kitgum Hospital.

“This initiative is aimed at ensuring that public places are made convenient for mothers,” says Anita Komukama, Project Officer with the EAMNCH project.

The initiative was also aimed at encouraging mothers to take their children for immunisation against the six diseases – Polio, Measles, Diphtheria, Whooping cough, Tuberculosis and Tetanus.

For all the mothers who turned up that day, each received a baby blanket. The project gave out 101 blankets that day. Thirty seven more blankets were given out during a Child Health Now fair on a different occasion.

Hellen Atim, a nursing officer at Kitgum Hospital who was in charge of distributing the blankets, says Pneumonia and respiratory tract infections become common during the cold weather.

“The blankets help to reduce the effects of such infections, and we are happy that the mothers received them,” she says.