Jungle Birth Kits
Melody Crisp, MPAS, PA-C and her team at THR5VE are striving to save lives among Burmese mothers and children by providing jungle birth kits with essential supplies and educational materials for new mothers.
PAs provide the medical expertise that guides the inclusion of items in the birth kits, and PA-led THR5VE works through a network of volunteers, clinics, and partners, including the local PA training program, to distribute the kits.
Crisp shared, “This project advances my goal of bringing more equitable health care to those on the fringes. The people in Burma are some of the most underserved people in the world, and I believe that by providing culturally sensitive, low-cost strategies to boost health, it can go a long way in promoting health for not just the mothers, but the entire community.”
The program will reach women in rural, underserved, and conflict areas of Burma where health care facilitates are often far away, families are displaced, and seeking care is difficult.
Crisp added, “Mothers lifts others up, so any support we provide to them will be passed along to others as well.”
The project seeks not only to address the immediate needs during and after childbirth but also to increase awareness of and access to prenatal care as well as physical and mental health care for these young families.
The Health Foundation is glad to support this initiative that seeks to address social determinants of health for new mothers and communities in Burma.