Helping babies in Kenya survive the USAID cuts

Thank you for supporting this project and we are please to bring you an update from Hellen Akinyi, Nurse in Charge, Ndubusat Medical Clinic.

Strengthening engagement of women’ and community in maternal health promotes a positive experience for all involved. This further strengthens a country’s health system and improves access to high quality, respectful maternal health care for every woman. 

The maternal, newborn and child health programme continues to operate within a changing health environment. The reduction and disruption by USAID funding creating additional pressure.

Against this changing environment, BCW has continued to support the County Department of Health to strengthen maternal health service delivery and community-facility linkages. Key areas of support have included maternal health training for Community Health Promoters (CHPs) and strengthening the ANC tracking system. These interventions are particularly important in a constrained funding environment because they help maintain community-level capacity to identify pregnant women, promote timely ANC attendance, support continuity of care and facilitate referral and follow-up of women requiring additional services.

The CHP maternal health training has strengthened the capacity of community health workers to provide appropriate maternal health information, identify danger signs, encourage early and continued ANC attendance, and link pregnant women to health facilities. Similarly, the ANC tracker provides an important mechanism for identifying women who may miss scheduled ANC contacts and supporting timely community follow-up. Together, these interventions contribute to maintaining continuity of maternal health services despite wider health-system constraints.

Over the last 3 months BCW continued to support CHP capacity building,the ANC tracking system, outreach clinic services and public health field days, By strengthening community-level identification, follow-up and linkage to facilities, these interventions can help preserve access to maternal health services during periods of wider health-system disruption.

The CHP maternal health training strengthened the capacity of community health promoters to provide appropriate maternal health information, identify danger signs, encourage early and continued ANC attendance, and link pregnant women to health facilities. Over the last three-months, six maternal health trainings have been delivered reaching 109 participants (36 men & 73 women).

Similarly, the ANC tracker provides an important mechanism for identifying women who may miss scheduled ANC contacts and supporting timely community follow-up. Together, these interventions contribute to maintaining continuity of maternal health services despite wider health-system constraints. In the last 3 months, 18 support supervision visits were conducted to identify key challenges affecting uptake of ANC services.

Resilience of the county health systems was strengthened through supporting capacity building of healthcare workers on Emergency Obstetric and Newborn care.

Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EMONC) training equips health care workers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to prevent, recognise, and manage life-threatening complications during pregnancy, childbirth, and the immediate post-natal period. The curriculum focuses on a competency-based framework, strengthening capacity for Trainer of Trainess and aligning with global guidelines and life-saving interventions.

 A five-day EMONC training was delivered to 37 healthcare workers from 32 health facilities, enhancing their knowledge and practical skills in the identification and management of maternal and newborn emergencies, and improving their capacity to provide life-saving care.

Your support is greatly appreciated ensuring mothers mothers and babies can be safe and healthy across Kericho County.