Baby Heroes Africa Foundation is a registered trust, which was founded by Chengetai Makuni and Dr Norbertta with the aim of ensuring the survival of preterm babies and enhancing their quality of life as well as contributing to ongoing development of maternal health in Africa. To this effect, we have dedicated our time to providing technical and social support to health institutions providing healthcare services to preterm babies. We have since worked closely with Mpilo Hospital, Maphisa Hospital and United Bulawayo hospitals.

At Mpilo Hospital, Baby Heroes have provided 3 Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Machines to help babies suffering from respiratory distress and a fire fly machine to help babies suffering from jaundice. We have been providing technical maintenance support as well. We also support the hospital by supporting the mothers and preterm babies from disadvantaged backgrounds with care packages consisting of baby tubs or buckets, soap, aqueous cream, petroleum jelly, diapers, cloth nappies, cotton wool, methylated spirit, towels, blankets and clothes. We support preterm baby orphans whose mothers succumbed to childbirth complications with formula and nutrition support. In the special baby care unit of Mpilo, we set up a mothers’ lounge. This is a space in which they can relax watch tv interact and have a sense of that homely feel. We also hold support group meetings in the room as well as trainings on home care of preterm babies, family planning and first aid. At UBH, we have provided support in the way of packages. At Maphisa we have provided packaged, consumables for the theatre and heaters for the ward.

There is a lot of scope that need to be addressed within the area of preterm birth and maternal care in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, there are many people who are disadvantaged and struggle to care for their preterm. In many instances, preterm babies are left out of the conversation relating to social support for babies. The rate of preterm births is increasing at an alarming rate with over 6000 being born in Zimbabwe annually. There is a need to place these babies among the nation’s healthcare priorities. There is also a need to inforce strategic interventions in the areas where women are at the highest risk of preterm labour.

The organisation’s focus is on mothers and preterm babies who are economically and socially disadvantaged, and other vulnerable sections of the community as well as health institutions providing care to preterm babies. Their vision is to increase the chances of long-term survival of children born prematurely while contributing to the ongoing improvement of maternal health in Africa.As well as to contribute significantly to the lowering of neonatal mortality rate and enhance the quality of life of under-fives, especially those born prematurely.