Page 39 - MANDERA-COUNTY- THE 2019 MAGAZINE

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PHOTO COURTESY| www.philips.com

A community life centre nurse performs a pregnancy scan on a patient with Philips
ultrasound technology.
From bad reputation to joy of motherhood

CURBING MATERNAL DEATHS

he joy of motherhood is in cuddling a new unskilled work force. The county government has employed 864
born baby after enduring the nine months of “The situation was dire as there was a work force skilled medical personnel to improve the quality
Tpregnancy and excruciating labour pains. of 154 health workers in a vast area, the majority of medical services rendered, which has seen a
In Mandera before devolution, giving birth was of whom were unskilled. Dilapidated one-roomed sharp increase in hospital attendance among the
a risky affair due to the poor state of health facil- structures known as dispensaries littered the the county’s residents.
ities and lack of specialised medical personnel county and were the only source of help avail- The county has partnered with the Kenya Medical
in the county. High maternal deaths at 3,795 able to the locals. There were no ambulances or Training College (KMTC) to establish a mid-level
deaths per 100,000 live births were the highest emergency equipment,” he recalls. in-service training for hospitals workers.
in the world at the time compared to the national
average of 488 deaths per 100,000 live births. The Governor decided to prioritize the health sec- To overcome the challenges faced in attracting
A statistic worse than what is recorded in areas tor, with an increase in budget allocation of 21%. the specialist cadre of medical personnel, the
plagued by war. Dispensaries were upgraded to five-roomed fa- county government fully sponsored doctors to
cilities and were fully staffed and equipped. pursue various specialised courses in different
Insecurity and harsh climatic conditions aggra- universities. So far, four of these specialist doc-
vated an already worst situation. The advent of The county government has built state-of-the-art tors have reported back and are serving resi-
devolution has proved to be a God-send gift to Accident and Emergency centres complete with dents together with the two Cuban doctors sent
the people of Mandera County. ICU, HDU, dialysis, radiology, endoscopy, labo- by assigned by the Ministry of Health. More are
ratory and theatre iin both Elwak and Mandera expected back once they complete their studies,
Governor Ali Roba says before the promulgation hospitals. including three gynaecologists.
of the new Constitution and the introduction of “The number of hospitals offering basic emer-
the devolved units, the health sector in Mande- gency obstetric care during pregnancy have “We are continually strengthening maternal and
ra was in a sorry state. His administration first been increased from 18 to 80, all working at full newborn health services, with the ultimate goal of
addressed the runaway insecurity in the region capacity. This has gone a long way in reducing drastically cutting down maternal mortality to the
which had scared-off skilled workers, leaving the the maternal and infant mortality rate. Our target national average,” says Governor Roba.
53 run down health centres under the care of an is to have zero deaths,” says Roba.

Mandera in northeastern Kenya has often been described as ‘the worst place on
earth to give birth’. Mandera’s maternal mortality ratio stood at 3,795 deaths per
100,000 live births (before devolution), almost double that of wartime Sierra Leone
at 2,000 deaths per 100,000 live births. Mandera County demonstrates what can be
achieved with strong political leadership and strategic partnerships.

- Siddharth Chatterjee,
The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Kenya