Look after baby

In my column last week, I mentioned the baby box that the Finnish government gives to all new mothers. I suggested back in 2013 that it be adopted here, as it’s a great idea, particularly for a poor country like ours where far too many babies are ill-supported in the first few months of life.

Not surprisingly, nothing was done about it by the Aquino administration. Maybe the Duterte administration, through Health Secretary Francisco Duque, will be more enlightened and develop a Philippine version of the baby box. There are enough funds from sin taxes now, and the private sector can help.

Let me quote the BBC.com article, “Why Finnish babies sleep in cardboard boxes,” which I highlighted in my 2013 column, with my comments in parenthesis:

“For 75 years, Finland’s expectant mothers have been given a box by the state. It’s like a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped Finland achieve one of the world’s lowest infant mortality rates.

“It’s a tradition that dates back to the 1930s and it’s designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they’re from, an equal start in life.

“The maternity package — a gift from the government — is available to all expectant mothers.

“It contains body suits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby, as well as nappies, bedding and a small mattress. With the mattress in the bottom, the box becomes a baby’s first bed. Many children, from all social backgrounds, have their first naps within the safety of the box’s four cardboard walls…

“‘Not only was it offered to all mothers-to-be but new legislation meant in order to get the grant, or maternity box, they had to visit a doctor or municipal pre-natal clinic before their fourth month of pregnancy,’ says Heidi Liesivesi, who works at Kela — the Social Insurance Institution of Finland.

“So the box provided mothers with what they needed to look after their baby, and also helped steer pregnant women into the arms of the doctors and nurses of Finland’s nascent welfare state.

“In the 1930s Finland was a poor country and infant mortality was high—65 out of 1,000 babies died. But the figures improved rapidly in the decades that followed.”

(By 2012, the figure was down to two. In the Philippines today, it’s 24. That’s 22 babies that shouldn’t be dying).

“Mika Gissler, a professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, gives several reasons for this — the maternity box and pre-natal care for all women in the 1940s, followed in the 60s by a national health insurance system and the central hospital network.”

(PhilHealth is taking on that responsibility; it just needs to be cleaned up and its supports widened. Here, government hospitals need to be better equipped, maintained and staffed, with clinics taking over primary health care, augmented by private sector clinics and hospitals for those who want that alternative.)

“At 75 years old, the box is now an established part of the Finnish rite of passage towards motherhood, uniting generations of women.”

One Finnish woman related her story: “We couldn’t wait to get the lid off. There were all the clothes you would expect… And then the box itself. I had never considered putting my baby to sleep in a cardboard box, but if it’s good enough for the majority of Finns, then why not? Jasper slept in it — as you might expect — like a baby.”

(Here, how many babies sleep on a dirt floor or something a little better than it?)

“We now live in Helsinki and have just had our second child, Annika. She did get a free box from the Finnish state. This felt to me like evidence that someone cared, someone wanted our baby to have a good start in life. And now, when I visit friends with young children, it’s nice to see we share some common things. It strengthens that feeling that we are all in this together,” the woman added.

Another Finnish woman was quoted in the BBC report: “There was a recent report saying that Finnish mums are the happiest in the world, and the box was one thing that came to my mind. We are very well taken care of, even now when some public services have been cut down a little.”

A professor at the University of Helsinki considers the baby box as a symbol “of the idea of equality, and of the importance of children.”

I think this is a great idea, don’t you? And I’m sure you’d get a number of corporations wanting to donate products and to introduce their products to mothers. These would have to be carefully screened, of course, so that only beneficial ones are included.

Baby box, why not? Let’s give babies a better start in life. Let’s give them a better chance at living, and living a healthy beginning to life.

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