Kakamega County has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Lwala Community Alliance to improve maternal health.
The partnership follows concerns over the worrying case of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), one of the leading killers of expectant women in Kenya and globally.
Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a condition associated with severe or excessive bleeding after childbirth and has lately raised concern in medical circles following reports from the World Health Organisation that result in around 70,000 deaths every year.
The Chief Executive Officer of Lwala Community Alliance, Julius Mbeya, said the Alliance is deploying the use of a technology known as Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) to control haemorrhage, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of maternal mortality.
He was speaking at the Kakamega General Hospital on Thursday during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Kakamega County Government and Lwala Community Alliance to reduce maternal mortality.
The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022 report indicates that Kenya’s maternal mortality rate stands at 355 deaths per 100,000 births, the infant mortality rate stands at 32 deaths per 1,000 live births, and the neonatal mortality rate stands at 21 deaths per 1,000 births.
“We know that any delivery comes with complications, and part of those complications is postpartum haemorrhage. With this partnership, we can actually further reduce maternal deaths in Kakamega County,” noted Mbeya.
He said research has proven that the technology, when used alongside other interventions, can reduce the fatality rate at the facility level by 49 per cent.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) describes the Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment as a low-cost first aid device that limits persistent Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) by reducing blood loss and stabilising women until treatment is available.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that the Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment be used as a temporary measure until appropriate care is available.
Mbeya commended the Kakamega County for making impressive progress in reducing maternal mortality in terms of skilled delivery rates standing at around 90 per cent, where the majority of mothers are now delivering at the health facilities.
He said the Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) has been deployed and used in counties like Migori, Homabay, and Baringo and has resulted in positive outcomes.
“We are on a journey of ensuring that no mother dies giving birth and no child dies because of preventable cases,” he added.
“In terms of numbers, we want to emphasise that those numbers represent real people; it is 355 mothers dying out of every 100,000 deliveries. That is not a small number. We have a challenge to meet our Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target that we have set as a country. We know we are lagging on that, and every effort needs to be made to ensure that no woman dies while giving birth,” Mbeya noted.
Acting County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Health Peninah Mukabane welcomed the partnership, noting that the NASG garment, when used together with other interventions, will enable the county government to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths.
“For neonatal mortality indicators, Kakamega County is at 23 deaths per 1,000 deliveries, while for maternal mortality, the county stands at 316 deaths per every 100,000 deliveries. We still need to put in more effort, and we are calling upon other partners to come in and support so that we can achieve zero mortality,” she noted.
Mukabane observed that the county government of Kakamega has made tremendous strides in improving maternal health since the advent of devolution.
To improve maternal health, the County Government partnered with AMREF in 2016 on the Linda Mama programme, where the partner introduced an incentive to Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to enable them to escort expectant mothers to health facilities instead of helping them to deliver at home.
“With the rewards, for every mother the TBA was escorting, they would be given Sh 250. This initiative increased our skilled delivery as most mothers were delivering in health facilities,” she explained.
Maternal health also got a boost when the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF) supported the county government to initiate a programme, Imarisha Afya ya Mama na Mtoto, that increased the Antenatal Clinic Visits (ANCs) and skilled deliveries.
In the MOU, the CECM said Lwala Community Alliance has committed to catering for the cost of training health workers, supplying Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) to about 25 health facilities for a start, offering mentorship, providing reporting tools for data collection, and conducting quarterly joint monitoring visits and implementation in the selected facilities.
“This is just the beginning, and I know you are going to help us scale up to 200-plus facilities,” she noted.
She said the County Government of Kakamega is committed to fully implementing the MOU by convening regular stakeholder engagement, providing supervision and quality assurance of the programme, and ensuring the facilities are well stocked with drugs that will work hand in hand with the Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment.
Acting Chief Officer for Public Health, Rose Muhando, said the county government is strengthening the Community Health Strategy to enable Community Health Promoters (CHPs) to map out all pregnant mothers within the households to go through the Antenatal Clinics (ANCs).
“In terms of community health, Kakamega County is 100 per cent covered with about 4250 Community Health Promoters(CHPs). We have about 425 Community Health Units,” she noted.
“Research has shown that where a mother dies while giving birth, the possibility of that newborn surviving is almost not there, so we are putting high-impact interventions that would also protect this newborn and the mother,” she added.
By Moses Wekesa
