Rotkirch says concern over falling birth rates is partly behind it, and highlights that several parties in Finland are discussing an additional baby bonus for newborns or free child care. “Support for the welfare state is across all parties, from right to left,” she adds.

There are other important considerations too: the box serves as social glue between generations. Many people feel it has become a tool for fostering a certain set of values that make Finland what it is today.

“I am in love with the baby box. It is like a Christmas present from the state,” says new mum Heini Särkkä.

The box presents the Finnish state as a benign entity and fosters loyalty. And this sense of loyalty, according to Rotkirch at least, may help explain other features of Finnish society, including social cohesion, trust and low corruption levels.

Going global

Researchers in Finland have identified almost 100 baby box programmes or projects around the world across about 60 countries, says Annariina Koivu, the principal researcher on the project from Tampere University.

Most programmes have been started in the last three years, apart from one in Chile that has been operating for about 10 years.

The programmes are adapted to meet local conditions and needs. “The baby boxes sometimes include items such as a mosquito net for malaria prevention, condoms or femidoms for family planning and to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, or so-called clean delivery kit items, including a sterile blade and cord clamp to ensure safer deliveries in areas where the health systems may not be able to provide that,” says Koivu.

Projects in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, for example, are mostly for refugees and displaced people. In Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, UN Women distribute a multipurpose maternity package. Refugee women produce items for the maternity package and thus earn income.

But not all baby box programmes outside Finland have been a success. The Qunita box programme in Argentina was introduced in 2015 but terminated the following year amid allegations of corruption. Some of the programmes are short-term by nature, like the one in Singapore to celebrate the nation’s 50th birthday.

But the main benefit of baby boxes, wherever they are, has been in the link that they create between medical professionals and expectant mothers. And more broadly, how they have helped welcome every child who has received one in to the world.

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