African Woman and Child Feature Service

Lack of proper information could be blamed on the high maternal and child mortality cases.

According to the Central Provincial Health Officer, maternal health remains a major challenge in the region with Kirinyaga County being the most affected.

The Provincial Health Officer, Samuel Muthinji, said this is because there are not enough nurses to attend to mothers and their children in the province.

Muthinji said he had introduced a programme that would help reduce infant deaths in hospitals.

“The programme will be a guideline to nurses working in maternity wards,” he said.

According to the records in health facilities within the region, 20 percent of deliveries result in surgical interventions.

Muthinji reiterated the need to improve facilities and services in rural health centres for the lives of mothers and children to be saved.

He said with the introduction of the Economic Stimulus Programme to upgrade health centres in Kirinyaga County, steps will be taken to ensure that delivery wards receive improved facilities.

“Nutrition nurses and community development officers will be educating mothers on malnutrition and lack of safe water and sanitation that contributes to most child deaths,” explained Muthinji.

He said that both research and experience show that most children who die each year could have been saved by low-technology, evidence-based and cost-effective measures such as vaccines, micronutrient supplementation, insecticide-treated bed nets, improved family care and breast feeding practices.

In addition to providing vaccines and antibiotics to children, Muthinji said education could also be provided to mothers so that they can learn how to make simple changes in their lifestyles, such as improving hygiene, in order to guarantee the health of their children.

“Mothers who are educated show increased confidence in their abilities to take care of their children, resulting in a healthier relationship and environment for both of them,” he said.

However, he observed that child mortality rate in the province had moved from 77 deaths per 1000 deliveries to 52.

Muthinji said over 50 percent of women in the province deliver without the assistance of a skilled attendant, which can often lead to complications and death. He said lack of personnel together with a shortage of equipment has been a big challenge in the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals in the County.

According to the World Health Organization, the main causes of death are pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles and HIV. Malnutrition is estimated to contribute to more than one third of all
child deaths, with one child dying every five seconds as a result of hunger. In total, that means 700 deaths every hour, 16,000 each day, six million each year, and accumulates to 60 percent of all child deaths (2002-2008 estimates).

According to Muthinji, malaria remains a huge challenge in Kirinyaga County, where deaths in children under one year is very high. Still, the rate is declining from seven percent to three percent.

He said the reduction was as a result of a malaria control programme that was started in 2005-2010 and the eradication programme of malaria which is started this year and expected to last till 2017.

Muthinji observed that Central Province has recurrent malaria cases in many health facilities but that there are generally low transmission rates since families are gaining access to mosquito nets.

“Deaths of children under five years of age have been reduced because expectant women and mothers with newborn babies are getting treated nets free of charge in all health facilities,” he said. He explained that even in facilities where mosquito nets are being sold, the Government has made it possible for them to be bought tax-free.

This story was originally published in the Kenyan Woman Issue 20