This is a 'baby box' installed in the wall of the maternity hospital of the southern Russian city of Sochi.<br/> <br />Parents who want to abandon their child can anonymously leave the unwanted baby in a safe, sanitary, and temperature-controlled space which locks on the outside and is monitored by the hospital.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) DEPUTY HEAD SOCHI MATERNITY WARD, HOSPITAL NO. 9, NATALIA GORISYUK, SAYING:<br/> <br />"A fund called 'Seven-Petal Flower' was created and it paid for installation of baby boxes across the Krasnodar region. This indeed is a situation when a child has a chance to remain alive and healthy."<br/> <br />Over 100 babies are abandoned in Sochi every year, and three 'baby boxes' have been installed across the city.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) YOUNG MOTHER OLGA FEDORENKO, SAYING:<br/> <br />"It is now difficult to accuse those women, because the state policy may have affected them, husbands also may have abandoned them. So everyone has their own unique psychological feeling. It's difficult."<br/> <br />Since being opened in November 2011, one baby was safely abandoned at the end of November, aged around two weeks.<br/> <br />According to city health officials she was adopted by a local family in December.<br/> <br />The 'baby box' project is expected to set up similar schemes in other cities around Russia.<br/> <br />Nick Rowlands, Reuters.
