Trans Nzoia County is banking on a hands-on mentorship programme to equip health workers with life-saving skills and reduce deaths of mothers and newborns during childbirth.
Health care providers drawn from facilities across the county underwent intensive practical training under the County Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) mentorship programme.
The training was facilitated by the County Department of Health and Sanitation with support from AMPATH Uzima and the Ministry of Health through the Division of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (DRMNCAH) Mentorship Programme.
Trainees were taken through management of Pre-Eclampsia and Eclampsia, Vacuum Assisted Vaginal Delivery, management of maternal shock, maternal resuscitation, immediate newborn resuscitation, and use of CPAP machines and infant radiant warmers.
AMPATH Uzima RMNCAH Programme Manager Nobrah Mutuku said the programme focuses on practical skills that health workers are expected to replicate in their facilities.
“This is a training of its own kind, because what our mentees are learning here is not just theory. It is practical skills that they are expected to go and replicate at the facility level in order to save the lives of mothers and their children during delivery,” Mutuku said.
She urged beneficiaries to mentor colleagues at their stations to improve service delivery.
“We want those who have benefited from this training to go and mentor their fellow health workers at the facility level. That is one way of bettering health care service delivery to the mwananchi,” she said.
Ministry of Health DRMNCAH Mentorship Programme Team Leader Dr Mike Ekisa commended the health workers for their commitment, saying their positive attitude will boost uptake of facility deliveries and reduce home deliveries under traditional birth attendants.
County health officials expressed optimism that the skills will translate into safer deliveries and fewer maternal and newborn deaths.
by Isaiah Nayika.
