Kenya in bid to stem child deaths

Kenya’s health care system is set for a boost with the planned introduction of a booklet to help track the health of mothers and their children.

The Maternal and Child Health handbook would replace the numerous records currently in use, including the ante-natal card, child immunisation and growth monitoring card, and other records kept for babies by their mothers.

By tracking the health of children, Kenya would reduce maternal and child deaths and strengthen the care given to mothers, newborns and children.
Kenya is one of the eight countries in eastern Africa where the handbook will be introduced. It is modelled on the one that premiered in Japan in the 1940s and has since spread to 14 other countries across the world.

“The handbook is designed to provide records of mothers’ conditions during pregnancy, delivery and growth of the child, as well as immunisation records so that the health workers can refer to it in case of referrals, follow ups and emergencies,” said Mr Keiko Osaki, a senior advisor on health at the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Millennium goals

Local health scholar Prof Miriam Were said using the handbook would contribute towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa which lags behind all regions.

“We health professionals and development workers want to have the handbook introduced in the region with the greatest need: sub-Saharan Africa,” Prof Were told participants attending a workshop on the handbook at the African Medical Research Foundation (Amref) in Nairobi.

According to the United Nations Children Fund global database for 2009, 51 per cent of the 9.2 million deaths of children under the age of five are reported in sub-Saharan Africa. A similar proportion of the 536,000 deaths of mothers also occur in the region.

The delay in introduction of the handbook in Africa has been due to a perceived low feasibility based on the high illiteracy levels, the lowest in the world.

“But among the countries where the handbook has been introduced, are some countries with literacy levels similar to those of Africa. Illiteracy can no longer be a reason to withhold the handbook from Eastern Africa,” Prof Were stated.