A Postcard from Ghana #teamhonk #goodwork #comicreliefday

Guess where I got a postcard from? following on nicely from my post yesterday. The lovely Annie from Mammasaurus blog who went to Ghana this week with Comic Relief sent me this gorgeous picture of a mum and baby at the vaccination clinic. That is one cute kid. Below is the postcard text….

Hello Sarah!
This morning we visited a vaccine clinic in Accra and observed mothers taking babies for their rotavirus vaccinations – I heard that Comic Relief have funded 1,000,000 vaccinations which is potentially a million lives saved, what an amazing difference to make! I spotted this woman as we were leaving holding her baby back and kissing her face – just such a lovely maternal moment!
This is a digital postcard sent from TeamHonk (www.mammasaurus.co.uk; www.aresidence.co.uk; www.mummybarrow.com ) during their travels with Comic Relief in Ghana celebrating #goodwork.
For the past 25 years the money raised through Red Nose Day has been changing the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa. Let’s Keep Up the Good Work. Find out how at rednoseday.com
For other digital postcards please do check out the linky on www.teamhonk.org
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Standing in the gap #teamhonk #goodwork

I have been following a couple of a lister parenting bloggers who this past week got to go to Ghana with Comic Relief and see some of the projects that they are investing in as it is incredibly 25 years since Comic Relief started!  It has been a mad couple of days on twitter and im sure for those bloggers that went, probably life changing.

I was very interested in their visit to a clinic to see some of the amazing differences some very basic vaccines can make to the life of the children and the community.

It has always, always bothered me that drugs and vaccines in particular are sometimes restricted to the ‘richer’ parts of the world. Not the massively sophisticated drugs…just the basics..you know diptheria, polio, stuff that we havent seen on these shores for decades and decades.

But you know that horrid vomiting bug we all fear every year….that gives us wobbly legs and 24 hours of calling huey. Well in Ghana something similar is the cause of 10% of all death in under 5’s.  TEN PERCENT!! and its just a vomiting bug. Something that the majority of our kids will curl up on the sofa, surrounded by buckets and dvd’s while their healthy immune system goes to work.

So Comic Relief fund the project that gives these babies a vaccine against this virus and GAVI estimate that it has the potential to save a potential 2.4 million lives.

We use a drug in Neonates that since its use has changed the gestation at which we can save a baby. Thats not flippant either, you ask anyone who knows anything about premature babies and they will tell you the name of it. It is THAT significant in giving our tiniest patients better odds of survival. That drug is £500 a vial! A VIAL!!! Generally we use 2 per baby depending on their condition and gestation. You ask any parent of a NICU baby if they would pay that to save their child’s life. yeah..you know it…

These vaccines that are being used in Ghana are not expensive. As mums, we know what we would give to save our kids. Lets stand in the gap for those mums who want to but can’t.

Thats got to be worth a red nose? right?

 

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