Gaps in maternal health dominate talks
By Joyce Mulama
Kenya…World Vision has been recognised for its efforts in addressing maternal and child health in Kenya.
At a Women and Leadership meeting with the theme Strong Women Strong Kenya, poor access to maternal health came under the spotlight. World Vision’s intervention in reducing maternal mortality through the establishment of maternal shelters was lauded as a best practice.
A maternal shelter is a room within a health facility that accommodates pregnant women who are closer to their delivery date but live far away from the facility. The women come to the shelter days before they are to give birth and enjoy close supervision by health personnel as they wait to deliver. The shelters are meant to address the issue of distance which has been cited as a key reason why women, particularly in rural areas, prefer to give birth at home and not in hospital under skilled care.
World Vision has set up a maternal shelter at Sagala Health Centre in Taita, in the coastal region, and fully equipped it with beds and basic amenities. The shelter has a capacity of six women at any given time, and they reside there with close relatives while they wait for their delivery period.
“Such shelters reduce the distance for women as well as increase the uptake for skilled birth care,” said Dr Nicholas Muraguri, a health expert present at the meeting.
Taita Taveta is among the counties with the highest maternal deaths in the country, standing at 600 deaths per 100,000 live births. The national maternal mortality rate is 495 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to official government statistics. These figures remain staggering just a year away from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline of 2015.
Pauline Okumu, World Vision Kenya Deputy National Director affirmed the organisation’s continued support to health interventions. “We are committed to our common agenda of promoting Maternal New-born and Child Health (MNCH) and women empowerment in this country. We are part of the journey towards the achievement of the MDGs,” She noted.
It is the experience of Lazarus Nguma, from Marungu community in Taita that brought the meeting face to face with the glaring challenges that bedevil Kenya’s health sector.
“I lost my wife because I was unable to transport her to the nearest dispensary as soon as she went into labour. By the time I managed to get her there, she had already developed complications and the facility lacked the necessary equipment. We were referred to Moi Hospital in Voi (the district hospital). Her situation had deteriorated, and when we arrived at the hospital she was taken straight to theatre where she died together with the baby,” said a tearful Nguma.
The ill equipped state of health facilities was also reiterated by Tiyah Galgalo, the Women’s Representative for Isiolo County in North-eastern Kenya. She narrated how pregnant women in her area have to travel to another county (Meru) some 400 kilometres (about 249 miles) away to do a simple pregnancy scan.
“We literally depend on another county for our health. This explains why Isiolo is the fifth county with the highest maternal deaths,” she noted. The county has a maternal mortality rate of 790 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to government statistics.
The high level convention brought together about 200 women leaders, including County women’s representatives, Members of Parliament, and nominated senators among others to deliberate on the role of women in development. They resolved to undertake a social audit of the health service delivery and lobby for grants to support maternal and child health.
The two-day meeting held in Nairobi was organised by World Vision, UNWomen, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association.
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