Maternal, newborn, and child health services in Nakuru County are poised for significant improvement following initiatives put in place under the Healthy Birth Initiative (HBI) that brings together the County’s Department of Health and the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics.
The initiative seeks to accelerate progress in reducing newborn deaths and improving birth outcomes by aligning policy, leadership, innovation, and investment towards achieving Kenya’s maternal and newborn health targets by 2030, a priority area for the County Government of Nakuru County.
Through the initiative, 12 high-burden counties, including Nakuru, Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kiambu, Kilifi, Garissa, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Kakamega, Kericho, and West Pokot, are expected to implement targeted interventions aimed at reducing low birth weight cases by 30 percent and neonatal deaths by 50 percent. The selected counties account for more than half of the neonatal deaths recorded annually in Kenya.
Globally, more than 20 million babies are born every year with low birth weight, while millions of others are delivered preterm, are too small for gestational age, or develop life-threatening complications within their first days of life.
The meeting brought together health stakeholders to review gaps in newborn care across the county, evaluate ongoing interventions and innovations, and explore sustainable financing models and strategies to strengthen maternal and newborn health outcomes.
Participants also discussed collaborative approaches to improving access to quality healthcare services for mothers and newborns while enhancing coordination among government agencies, development partners, and healthcare providers.
Among those who attended the meeting were JHPIEGO Country Director Paul Nyachae, Acting County Director for Medical Services Dr. Kevin Awere, representatives from partner organizations, officials from the Ministry of Health, and other stakeholders.
The primary objective of HBI is to reverse the troubling national newborn mortality statistics and give every small and sick newborn a fair chance at life by providing mothers and babies with optimal care.
The programme brings together both the National and County governments, professional associations that include the Kenya Pediatrics Association and Midwives Association of Kenya, among other partners, to ensure every birth is safe by reducing low birth weights and improving access to life-saving newborn interventions.
Kenya made a significant step toward accelerating solutions to curb neonatal mortality by joining the five-year global Healthy Birth Initiative, which is an Sh11B programme initiated to reduce the deaths of newborns.
Currently, data from the Ministry of Health shows that Kenya loses 92 newborns from preventable causes daily.
Nakuru County has already set aside Sh155.5 million for maternal and newborn health, with the money expected to cover training health workers and establishing facilities that will act as the county’s testing grounds for innovations to save babies.
With over 70,000 babies born in Nakuru County every year, the initiative represents a huge scale of investment. The County has pledged dedicated funding specifically for newborn health and has designated various facilities as Healthy Birth Learning Labs.
These labs will serve as centers of excellence, testing innovative care methods that can be scaled across the county.
The HBI program is spearheaded by the Ministry of Health and Jhpiego and uses a model that enhances newborn survival by bridging clinical care with community support.
It ensures health care facilities are equipped to handle premature babies and continuous care for mothers, inclusive of antenatal clinics, safe delivery, and continuous support even after delivery.
The programme also aims at fixing gaps in the referral process to ensure mothers in remote areas can access emergency obstetric care whenever needed.
The HPI programme was launched in March this year during the International Maternal Newborn conference (IMNCH) held in Nairobi.
During the launch, Director General for Health, Dr Patrick Amoth noted that the decision to launch the initiative was necessitated by the burden of a high mortality rate which sent stakeholders back to the drawing board to identify ways of reducing neonatal deaths.
By Jane Ngugi
