While the box is inspired by the century old Finnish baby box the Thula Baba Box has been adapted to the specific needs of a South African mother with income levels. The main objective was to get mothers to antenatal classes, and a trial carried out by the Research on Socio-economic Policy Health Group at Stellenbosch University last year concluded that the Thula Baba Box, as it is known, encourages mothers to attend clinics at an earlier stage of pregnancy, and to attend more frequently. Among other things, this reduces the risk of an HIV-positive mother dying in childbirth, and reduces the risk of HIV being passed from the mother to the baby. The Thula Baba Box is made out of plastic, unlike the Finnish version, which is made of cardboard as it need to be durable because of the challenging living circumstances in many low income households. A benefit of a plastic box is that it could double as a baby bath.