Gates Package — page 546

Nuria Ali, a community health worker, teaching Sebsebila Nassir about caring for her newborn daughter, Amira (Dalocha, Ethiopia, 2012). Just consider the story of one young mother from Dalocha. Sebsebila Nassir was born in 1990 on the dirt floor of her family's hut. With little access to lifesaving vaccines or basic health care, about 20 percent of all children in Ethiopia at that time did not survive to their fifth birthdays. Two of Sebsebila's six siblings died as infants. But a few years ago, when a health post opened its doors in Dalocha, life started to change. For the first time, she had access to contraceptives, so she could have children when she and her husband were ready. When the time came last year and Sebsebila became pregnant, she received regular check-ups from her health worker. The worker also encouraged her to have the baby at a local health center, instead of at home where she gave birth to her first child. On November 28, the day Sebsebila went into labor, she traveled by donkey cart to the health center. There, a midwife was at her bedside during her seven-hour labor. Shortly after her daughter was born, the baby received vaccines against polio and tuberculosis. The health worker also handed Sebsebila an immunization card with a schedule for her daughter to receive vaccinations to protect her from diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, meningitis, pneumonia, and measles. At the top of the immunization card was a blank for the name of her baby daughter. According to a long-held Ethiopian custom, parents wait to name their children because disease is rampant, health care is sparse, and children often die in the first weeks of life. Sebsebila didn't receive her own name until several weeks after her birth. And when her first daughter was born three years ago, she followed tradition and waited a month to bestow a name, afraid her child would not survive. But a lot has changed in Ethiopia since the birth of Sebsebila's first child. This time, with more confidence in her new baby's chances of survival, Sebsebila didn't hesitate to name her. In the blank at the top of the vaccination card, she put "Amira'--"princess" in Arabic. Sebsebila's newfound optimism is not an isolated case. Ethiopia' effort on health has lowered child mortality over 60 percent since 1990, putting the country on track to achieve this important MDG target by 2015 and giving many parents the confidence to name children the day they are born.