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| County Department of Health and Sanitation and the UNICEF Kenya Lodwar Zonal Office |
The County Department of Health and Sanitation and the UNICEF Kenya Lodwar Zonal Office have developed the “Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality and Every Newborn Action Plan” aimed at improving the quality of maternal healthcare across all county health facilities.
The action plan is expected to lower the current mortality rates.
According to the 2019 Kenya Census, Turkana County’s maternal mortality ratio was 381 per 100,000 live births (LB), compared to the national ratio of 355 per 100,000 LB.
The neonatal mortality ratio in Turkana was 21 per 1,000 LB, which is the same as Kenya’s national ratio.
Speaking at the opening of the four-day workshop, Chief Officer for Medical Services, Dr. Gilchrist Lokoel, emphasized that the county’s maternal and neonatal mortalities could be reduced by addressing controllable factors.
“By enhancing Basic Emergency Obstetric Care (BEmOC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care (CEmOC) services and transferring knowledge and skills to the lower cadres of healthcare workers, we can improve maternal healthcare,” he said.
One of the actionable approaches is the establishment of the Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) Learning Hub at Lodwar County and Referral Hospital.
This hub would also support the implementation of MNH Quality of Care in the hospital and ten other sub-county hospitals across the county.
The hub, to be funded by a UNICEF Kenya grant, is expected to assist in the capacity building of healthcare workers in critical MNH skills.
Another objective is to work towards achieving the third Sustainable Development Goal on maternal health, which targets less than 70 per 100,000 LB for maternal mortality and less than 12 per 1,000 LB for neonatal mortality.
Chief Officer of Preventative and Promotive Services, Cathra Abdi, called for strengthening Lodwar County Referral Hospital and other facilities with BEmOC and CEmOC services in reproductive health.
“The county department will work to further extend reproductive health services to the community through community health promoters,” she said.
In closing the workshop, the Director for Preventive and Promotive Services, Dr. Bonventure Ameyo, stated that the action plan would be a unifying factor to accelerate MNH in the county by strengthening collaboration between the health department and its partners.
UNICEF Kenya’s Health Specialist, Dr. Nelson Lolos, highlighted the importance of advocacy with county leadership, both executive and legislative, to ensure more budgetary allocations.
Partner representatives included the International Rescue Committee, AMREF Health Africa in Kenya, Concern Worldwide, Save the Children, and USAID NAWIRI.
By Christine Muchira