650 new mothers at CWM Hospital, Makoi Hospital and in communities between Serua and Tailevu have received maternal and infant kits from the Frank Hilton Organisation.
CEO, Sureni Perera says these kits have all essential items required by new mothers and infants for a period of at least two weeks.
She says apart from this, they continued provision of other essentials such as infant formula, diapers, hygiene packs for mothers and caregivers and nutrition as well.
Perera says during the height of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, they gathered support from their donor base and were able to provide weekly nutrition supplies to children, caregivers and health workers, medical supplies and equipment, other needs such as washing machines, dryer and fridge and linen to the Pediatric Department at the CWM Hospital.
She says they also entered into a funding agreement with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in August 2021 to implement a COVID-19 response and support initiative enabling equitable access to health, education and WASH promoting resources for children with disabilities from low-income families in Fiji.
Perera says through this initiative, they were able to scale up the support provided to the Health Sector and in response to the requests from the Hospital, provided maternal and infant kits.
She says they have now received a request to provide support to Labasa Hospital and the first 50 kits were shipped out in February this year.
Perera adds while they aim to provide support to as many as possible, their focus is on those families and new mothers who simply cannot access resources during their confinement, and mainly from low-income families or single mothers with no other forms of support.
