STRENGTHENING HEALTH SYSTEMS
In Kenya, the clinics that became KIKOP’s Community Birthing Centers were originally lacking in staff and reliable infrastructure that they were rarely used for maternal and newborn care by the population they were meant to serve. In Kenya, it is common for women in labor to be beaten, yelled at, cut or left alone, thus creating an unsafe environment that greatly impacted the conditions in which women gave birth.
The Kisii County Ministry of Health reported that only 69.3% of women delivered at the health facility. This factor contributed to many others that resulted in a high Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in Kisii County. Currently, the leading cause of death for mothers in the region is postpartum hemorrhage. Studies attribute this high rate to access to quality healthcare facilities in conjunction with poor health seeking behavior and poor socio-economic factors.
OUR MODEL
Prior to KIKOP's involvement, few mothers utilized the health facilities in their area and often suffered from unsafe birthing practices in their own homes. KIKOP has been working with healthcare providers to change how they interact with and treat women, as well as training nurses to provide a comfortable delivery process to their patients. We have partnered with local health centers in Matongo, Iranda and the Nyagoto Catchment to increase the number of mothers who receive care at these facilities.
OUR IMPACT
Since we began this initiative in November 2018, the percent of women who deliver in a healthcare facility – an important factor in the reduction of maternal and child deaths – has jumped from 68 percent to 93 percent. We’ve added nursing staff to enable 24/7 services, created woman-friendly birthing spaces to the communities’ specifications, and installed battery-backed solar panels to ensure 24/7 electricity.
CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE BIRTHING CENTERS
Less than half of all women in Africa deliver with the help of a skilled professional compared to 99% in high-income countries, and inappropriate and abusive care toward mothers – 5 including verbal and physical abuse, neglect, and discrimination – is commonly reported. If mothers experience poor care during delivery, they may choose to deliver at home for subsequent pregnancies and/or share their negative experience with their social networks, thus perpetuating the cultural norm of delivering at home and contributing to the second type of delay: the decision to seek care. If and when complications do arise during home births, mothers may be located too far from the facility to access medical attention in time to prevent catastrophe.
Many women choose to give birth at home due to the lack of flexibility in choosing their birthing position, lack of privacy and fear of being seen by others in the community , cultural beliefs and practices and many other complex factors.
Thus KIKOP established a culturally appropriated birthing center in which mothers are able to deliver with agency (over their birthing positions), privacy, and a higher standard of care from the medical facility staff.
SOLAR INITIATIVE
Since we began this initiative in November 2018, the percent of women who deliver in a healthcare facility – an important factor in the reduction of maternal and child deaths – has jumped from 68 percent to 93 percent. Even with this increase, many women were subjected to giving birth in the dark due to unreliable power sources and frequent energy outages. With the help of our partners at United Solar Initiative, we have been able to install solar energy panels at our health facilities in Matongo and Nyagoto. Due to this very generous grant, we have been able to add supplemental nursing staff to enable 24/7 services and ensure that women who give birth during night hours are able to feel more secure with reliable power sources.
"KIKOP's work has helped us so much, specifically in adding more healthcare workers to our health facility. They have give us staff to cover the night shift, which is when most women come in to deliver. Being open for more hours allows us to save more lives."
- Calvin Momanyi
Clinical Officer, Matongo Health Center