Maternal deaths still high in Lamu County

The rate of women dying during child birth in Lamu County is still high, a health officer has said.

Speaking to Nation.co.ke in his office Friday, Lamu County Director for Health Services Dr David Mulewa revealed that most maternal deaths occur due to failure of most mothers to reach health facilities during child birth.

He said most mothers, especially in Lamu East Sub County, prefer to deliver their babies at home without proper care.

Dr Mulewa added that a lot of social and cultural barriers keep mothers in Lamu County away from health facilities.

He said over 45 per cent of women in Lamu County deliver their babies at home and are attended to by traditional birth attendants.

He advised all residents to ensure they seek medical assistance during labour to avoid cases of deaths of the mother or child as a result of ignorance.

He said the number of pregnant women who register and go for clinics was very encouraging but was quick to add that very few of the women deliver their babies at a health facility.

“Almost 99 per cent of women attend clinics in the entire county. The problem comes during child birth.

HOME DELIVERIES

"Over 45 per cent of the women prefer home deliveries and this is a great challenge to us.

“The women seem to be more comfortable with traditional midwives. I advise them to deliver their babies in hospitals because the midwives they rely on are not able to recognise complications or emergencies during pregnancy and early labour. That is why we end up losing most mothers,” said Dr Mulewa.

He also said lack of proper infrastructure was another key element causing increased maternal deaths in the county every year.

There are very few dispensaries in the entire county with most of them facing both human resource and crucial medical equipment shortages.

Dr Mulewa said plans were underway to improve the Lamu King Fahad County Hospital to be a level 5 facility and employ more nurses who will be posted to all the health centres in the entire county with the aim of improving child delivery services.

“The county Government has already spent about Sh43 million to buy advanced health equipment out of which Sh14 million was used to purchase maternity equipment.

“Most of the tools have already reached our facilities. Our target is to have zero maternal mortality,” added Dr Mulewa.

He encouraged the residents to embrace modern delivery services by ensuring they go to hospital during birth to avoid pregnancy-related deaths because almost all maternal deaths are entirely preventable with proper medical surveillance and intervention.