Oxfam call to get knitting

7:00am Saturday 3rd May 2008

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OXFAM is calling on all knitters in the UK to support a new campaign to help reduce the numbers of women who die needlessly every year in pregnancy and childbirth.

Millions of mums in poor countries get low-quality health care or are forced to go though pregnancy and childbirth without it altogether, meaning that, every minute, a mother dies because she does not have access to the medical care she needs.

The campaign is being launched in partnership with the parenting website, mumsnet.com, and knitters will be asked to make nine-inch squares for a giant baby blanket, with each knitted square representing a mother who did not survive pregnancy or childbirth to be able to care for her baby.

Mumsnet founder, Carrie Longton, said: It seems astonishing that in the 21st century mothers are still dying through lack of basic healthcare. Mumsnet are delighted to be working with Oxfam to raise awareness of this desperate situation and Mumsnetters are busy knitting already.

"The aim is to get 250,000 squares by September, the number of mothers who could have been saved in that time if decent healthcare had been available. "

Oxfam campaigner, Georgia Stokes, said: Most knitters love to make beautiful things to show others they care. This campaign is about showing how much people in the UK care about the lives and health of mums and babies around the world.

"It's a message to tell world leaders they must act to provide decent healthcare for all.

"The campaign is even going global, as knitters from France to Canada are picking up their needles to improve the situation for mothers around the world."

The giant blanket will be handed over to the UK Government just before world leaders meet in New York to discuss progress on the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at halving world poverty by 2015.

It will represent a demand to global leaders to act now to ensure that everyone in the world has access to free basic healthcare.

After the giant blanket has been handed in, it will be dismantled and sold in Oxfam shops and at festivals, with the money raised going towards Oxfam's work to fight poverty.

To find out more, go to www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2280/499651 or contact Georgia Stokes, at Oxfam gstokes@oxfam.org.uk.