We are thrilled to announce that after a COVID enforced two year break, UNSW Population Health in the Faculty of Medicine & Health is again supporting Caring for Kiriwina by packing hundreds of life saving birthing kits on their UNSW Gateway Winter Program’s on-campus Experience Day run on the 6th July.
Featured photo: Losuia Health Centre nurse Linnesse (centre) photographed with our brilliant midwife educators, Jacqui Andrews (left) Shea Caplice (right). CFK and the Kiriwinan’s will be forever grateful for their servant hearted generosity of spirit. This photo was taken during our 2019 training trip.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank one of the trained midwives at Losuia HC, Bokawau who has now retired (left, next to Linnesse). During her time at the Losuia HC, Bokawau was a trusted leader with the VBAs and the community, providing valuable knowledge and experience to the VBAs, as well as encouraging mothers to give birth at the Losuia HC instead of their villages. Her retirement is a loss to the community in the area of womens’ and babies’ health that is constantly in need of support.
Above: Losuia Health Centre nurses Raymond and Linnesse. Happy International Nurses Day. Thank you for all the work you do.
Basic drugs especially pain killers have been donated to Janson Toposona (pictured) over the years. A former Health Extension Officer and retired public servant with the Health Department. Janson operates a dispensary clinic and helps a lot of sick people with his experience and expertise. He is an expert in acupuncture and CFK has provided him with hundreds of acupuncture needles. He uses them to assist many people to recover from pain and disease.
Yesterday we remembered those ANZACs who served in partnership with the Kirwinan people in WW2.
Thank you Diggers for building the Losuia airport strip, the most vital piece of infrastructure on Kiriwina, still in use today. Damage to this amazing piece of critical infrastructure over the past few years makes it relatively impossible to reach the Island unless you are prepared risk your life on a two day, potentially death defying sea journey. Please look after this amazing legacy!!! Photos courtesy of the Australian War Memorial @DFAT, #DFAT @FriendshipGrants,#LestWeForget #AnzacDay
We are feeling extremely happy that the systems that we have in place that deal with the difficult logistics involved in delivering these important items to the Village Birth attendants and Losuia Health Centre on Kiriwina Island are working :).
The people of Kiriwina are really grateful, thankful and appreciate CFK for the services provided to them. Kirwina people also convey their inner most feelings of gratitude and appreciation to the donors all over the world. Thank you very much.
Due to the increase in pregnancies more birth registration booklets have been requested.
Why birth and death registration really are “vital” statistics for development.
In developed societies we take it for granted that all children are registered at birth and that all people are registered when they die with a medically assigned cause of death. We hardly think about birth and death registration because we rarely are the initiators; it is usually the institution where the birth takes place that registers the baby, and the undertaker who registers a death. Our involvement is typically limited to choosing a name for the child and signing the registration papers.
In most developing countries including PNG, however, there is no reliable system as many births do not happen through the official Health Care Centers but happen in the villages, away from any official recording mechanisms. This in part explains why so many births and deaths go unrecorded.
Due to our the growth of our successful CFK Village Birth Attendants network we can help fill this gap by supplying Birth Registration Booklets which are vital for planning. Without knowing the size and composition of the local population, how can local authorities and charity groups decide how much – and what type of essential services to provide?
Only about 65% of all births are registered globally and only about one third of the world’s 55 million annual deaths are recorded through civil registration1, and up to 80 percent of deaths that occur outside of health facilities are not counted. UNDP (2015).
CFK Village Birth Attendants meeting
The people of Kiriwina are really grateful and thankful and appreciates CFK for the services provided to them. Kirwina people also convey their inner most feelings of gratitude and appreciation to the donors all over the world. Thank you very much.
