FARMINGTON — The Southfield-based Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul International Project Services teamed up with Farmington-based Global Health Charities to donate 1,000 clean birth kits to poor women in Nigeria on March 8, International Women’s Day.

The birth kits include a 3-foot-by-3-foot plastic sheet, a baby blanket, two pair of gloves, gauzes, alcohol swabs, soap, a razor blade and string, all necessary items a woman needs to give a sanitary birth, regardless of the surrounding conditions.

“4.5 million infants die every year during birth, a majority of those in developing countries,” Susan McAdams, executive director of Global Health Charities. “These kits provide the most essential items to provide a clean birth in rural settings.”

This round of donations was prepared by volunteers from various parishes and schools in the area, including Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington, St. Catherine Academy in Wixom and Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi.

The kits were produced with the help of individual $10 donations to purchase supplies and provide for transportation, with the assistance of Climax Services, a Nigerian transportation company that ships the kits directly to clinics run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.

“The women who are receiving these kits, whether they are delivering in the clinic or in the village, are having babies that are living longer, healthier lives,” said Sr. Mary Louise Stubbs, DC, executive director of the Daughters of Charity International Project Services.

Sr. Stubbs has been to the rural parts of developing countries and seen firsthand the impacts the kits can have.

“When we introduce these kits to clinics around the world, health care workers are able to use these gifts with great pride because it helps so much,” Sr. Stubbs said. “The sisters in the community provide training to health care workers and midwives. And countries where we’ve introduced these kits have seen healthier babies.”

An army of 703 volunteers contributed 7,800 volunteer hours to assemble the kits. To find out more or to donate to provide for more birth kits, visits globalhealthcharities.org.