Saving newborn lives in Kenya

After a long walk to the home of a mother and her newborn infant, Salina promptly began her assessment of the
infant. Salina is a volunteer community health worker (CHW) who has more than two years of experience with newborn home visits, having participated in the first training program that was implemented by Global Health Partnerships. The infant that she is visiting today in a village of Makusya sublocation was born three days ago without complications or problems. When Salina checked on the baby the first day after birth, all was going well and there were no signs of illness or problems. On today’s visit Salina starts by greeting the mother, asking if breast feeding is going well and if the mother has any concerns or has noticed any problems. She notes that the baby seems alert and active, has no skin pustules or boils, and her temperature is normal. But when Salina counts the breathing rate, she finds a rapid rate of more than 60 breaths per minute. Recognizing this danger sign of serious illness, she calls her supervisor Nicholas Mutuku, who quickly arranges for the mom and baby to be transported to the Kisesini clinic. Nicholas confirms the diagnosis of pneumonia, promptly starts antibiotic therapy, and arranges hospitalization of the infant. A few days later the young infant has recovered and is back at home with her mother.        

In Kenya 40% of childhood deaths occur during the neonatal period (the first month of life), and three- fourths of those neonatal deaths happen in the first seven days. Young infants can become very ill and succumb to their illness quickly. The key to reducing the death rate is early recognition and prompt treatment. Over the past three months Salina and the other 19 CHWs visited a total 198 infants during their first week of life. The visits were conducted on days one, three, and seven of that first week, as recommended by UNICEF. There were no deaths. In the absence of the newborn home visitation program, 4 or 5 of those 198 young infants would likely have died, based on the national neonatal mortality rate in Kenya. The dedicated CHWs of the Kisesini Community Health Project have accomplished this successful effort because of your donations to this GlobalGiving project. If adequate funding can
be found, GHP is planning an expansion of the project so that a larger number of newborn infants can be included.

The 20 community health workers (CHWs) who were trained by Global Health Partnerships continue their work of visiting newborn infants in their villages. They assess each young infant for signs of early infection and refer those who need treatment to the nearest health care facility. The protocol that they use follows the UNICEF recommendations of three visits during that first week of life, i.e. on day one, day three, and day seven. The evidence cited by UNICEF indicates that at least two of those three visits is needed in order to have the maximum impact on the prevention of neonatal deaths. Since the last report for this project 3 months ago, the CHWs have visited 218 infants. They completed all three of the visits for 217 infants, and the remaining one infant was visited twice. There were no infant deaths during this period of time. This very high completion rate for the assessment of newborn infants is a tribute to the commitment of this group of dedicated CHWs to save newborn lives.