Unite for Mothers
Beautiful, soft and each with its own unique design, blankets carefully made by Kiwi knitters as a part of the Unite for Mothers 2009 campaign to raise awareness about parent to child transmission of HIV and AIDS are given to women and children at Port Moresby Hospital in Papua New Guinea. Read more
Almost every minute of every day, a baby is born with HIV, passed on by their mother during pregnancy, labour or delivery. Unite for Mothers is a campaign to prevent pregnant mothers from passing HIV on to their children.
Unite for Mothers in 2009 saw hundreds of New Zealanders from all over the country take part in a nationwide stitch-a-thon to knit and crochet a ‘giant baby blanket’ made up of over 2,800 peggy squares!
The squares have been stitched into over 70 small baby blankets which will be sent to Papua New Guinea and distributed to new mums for their newborn babies.
View more photos on flickr
The giant blanket was used to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in the Pacific, particularly how to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their children.
MP mums Dr Jackie Blue, the Hon Steve Chadwick and the Hon Rahui Katene spoke at the UNICEF Unite for Mothers Mothers' Day event where Wellingtonians braved the weather to come and see the amazing bus-sized blanket.
“Today, this beautiful giant baby blanket is going to immediately connect three political Mums with mums in Papua New Guinea.
We are pleased to support this Unite for Mothers event, to unite with other parties, to unite with other agencies, to unite with other nations, to take action to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in the Pacific. We join with you all, in endorsing the need for universal access to early diagnosis, prevention services, care, support and treatment of HIV, especially amongst our women and children.
The love of a mother for her child brings us all here today – and it is that same love that unites us all here today for the common goal of whanau ora.”
- MP mum Rahui Katene, Member for Te Tai Tonga
On behalf of her Parliamentary colleagues, MP Dr Jackie Blue accepted a petition signed by hundreds of New Zealanders asking the NZ Government to all they can to respond to HIV and AIDS in the Pacific. Ms Blue promised to hand deliver the petition to Prime Minister John Key.
In celebration of Mothers' Day, supporters of the campaign were then entertained by local dance troupe the RHBs who performed a special Mothers' Day song especially for Unite for Mothers.
For more photos of the Unite for Mothers campaign, please join UNICEF on Facebook.
Mothers' Day celebrates the strength and trials of motherhood. For millions of women in the developing world the risk of HIV and AIDS is a reality, and pregnancy poses new concerns. Far too few pregnant women are tested for the virus and far too few are treated. With no diagnosis, and no treatment, the mother’s baby is at risk of contracting the disease too. Testing the mother and getting treatment to both mother and child is essential for their survival.
Read about Kim Anderson - she has knitted the message 'Unite for Mothers'
The good news is that we can prevent babies getting HIV from their mothers. Medication given to a woman during pregnancy and delivery, and to her infant shortly following birth, has been shown to sharply reduce the likelihood of mother passing the HIV virus to her baby. In fact the drug that halves the chance of babies getting HIV from their Mums costs as little as $3.50.
» Join UNICEF’s Campaigners for Change by emailing takeaction@unicef.org.nz
» Join UNICEF’s Facebook group
» Host your own UNICEF event.... have a film night, curry night or pub quiz and ask for a gold coin donation to save and transform the lives of children.
» Read our handy fact sheet about prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
» Read more about UNICEF’s response to HIV and AIDS
Please email takeaction@unicef.org.nz or phone 0800 243 575 (NZ only) or +64 4 815 9370 for more information.
Almost every minute of every day, a baby is born with HIV, passed on by their mother during pregnancy, labour or delivery. Unite for Mothers is a campaign to prevent pregnant mothers from passing HIV on to their children.
Unite for Mothers in 2009 saw hundreds of New Zealanders from all over the country take part in a nationwide stitch-a-thon to knit and crochet a ‘giant baby blanket’ made up of over 2,800 peggy squares!
The squares have been stitched into over 70 small baby blankets which will be sent to Papua New Guinea and distributed to new mums for their newborn babies.
View more photos on flickr
The giant blanket was used to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in the Pacific, particularly how to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their children.
MP mums Dr Jackie Blue, the Hon Steve Chadwick and the Hon Rahui Katene spoke at the UNICEF Unite for Mothers Mothers' Day event where Wellingtonians braved the weather to come and see the amazing bus-sized blanket.
“Today, this beautiful giant baby blanket is going to immediately connect three political Mums with mums in Papua New Guinea.
We are pleased to support this Unite for Mothers event, to unite with other parties, to unite with other agencies, to unite with other nations, to take action to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS in the Pacific. We join with you all, in endorsing the need for universal access to early diagnosis, prevention services, care, support and treatment of HIV, especially amongst our women and children.
The love of a mother for her child brings us all here today – and it is that same love that unites us all here today for the common goal of whanau ora.”
- MP mum Rahui Katene, Member for Te Tai Tonga
On behalf of her Parliamentary colleagues, MP Dr Jackie Blue accepted a petition signed by hundreds of New Zealanders asking the NZ Government to all they can to respond to HIV and AIDS in the Pacific. Ms Blue promised to hand deliver the petition to Prime Minister John Key.
In celebration of Mothers' Day, supporters of the campaign were then entertained by local dance troupe the RHBs who performed a special Mothers' Day song especially for Unite for Mothers.
For more photos of the Unite for Mothers campaign, please join UNICEF on Facebook.
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Read about Kim Anderson - she has knitted the message 'Unite for Mothers'
The Issue
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The good news is that we can prevent babies getting HIV from their mothers. Medication given to a woman during pregnancy and delivery, and to her infant shortly following birth, has been shown to sharply reduce the likelihood of mother passing the HIV virus to her baby. In fact the drug that halves the chance of babies getting HIV from their Mums costs as little as $3.50.
Do more:
» Donate to UNICEF» Join UNICEF’s Campaigners for Change by emailing takeaction@unicef.org.nz
» Join UNICEF’s Facebook group
» Host your own UNICEF event.... have a film night, curry night or pub quiz and ask for a gold coin donation to save and transform the lives of children.
» Read our handy fact sheet about prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
» Read more about UNICEF’s response to HIV and AIDS
Please email takeaction@unicef.org.nz or phone 0800 243 575 (NZ only) or +64 4 815 9370 for more information.