Jacaranda Health, in partnership with the Murang’a County Government, witnessed the graduation of the first cohort of mentees and in-facility mentors under the MENTORS programme on Monday in an effort to eradicate maternal newborn deaths and enhance skilled birth attendance in health facilities throughout the county.
The 68 grandaunts, who are qualified nurses and midwives, were chosen from 17 healthcare facilities located throughout the county. They underwent a rigorous six-month training programme to improve their abilities and confidence in order to provide complete care to mothers and their newborns.
Speaking in Kenol during the graduation ceremony, Jacaranda Health Deputy Country Director Job Makoya noted that the Mentors’ programme is designed to nurture, polish and hone the skills of the nurses and midwives stationed in public health facilities with a primary emphasis of managing obstetric emergencies
“The curriculum encompassed Emergencies obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) and offered the mentees practical training on Essential Continuous Medical Education (CMEs) and essential drills,” he said
He added, “As such, the Mentees cohort program covered topics such as PPH, Neonatal Resuscitation, shoulder dystocia, Pregnancy induced hypertension/ eclampsia, respectful maternity care, infection control and prevention management of normal labour and also post-abortion care.“
Dr. Makoya added that the mentees were trained on the crucial drills that are helpful when handling obstetric emergencies and newborn care in order to put an end to preventable maternal newborn deaths by implementing low-cost sustainable solutions that will ultimately improve the standard of care in government health facilities.
“Our nurses and midwives are well equipped to handle normal birth of a non-vigorous baby, normal birth of a vigorous baby with immediate PPH, shoulder dystocia birth of a non-vigorous baby, mild PPH, eclampsia, breech delivery and assisted vacuum delivery (AVD),” he noted.
On his part, Murang’a County Health Executive Committee Member (CEC) Dr. Fredrick K. Mbugua while lauding Jacaranda Health for the Mentors’ programme, assured the participants that the county is relentlessly putting measures in place to ensure that mothers receive quality, dignified and respectable maternal care in the health facilities.
“To achieve the mission of ending maternal newborn deaths, the county is continuously involved in public education, capacity building, improving of infrastructure and partners support which is not only saving us significant resources but also ensuring our frontline health care workers polish their skills,” Dr. Mbugua added.
While skilled antenatal care increased from 97 percent in 2014 to 100 percent in 2022 in Murang’a County, skilled birth attendance is currently at 96 percent (2022), a substantial improvement from 85 percent in 2014.
Maternal mortality is now reported nationally by KDHS 2022 at 357/100,000 live births, which is a decrease from the previous numbers from 2014 of 365/1000 live births.
Additionally, skilled delivery attendance is now at 89 percent, up from 41 percent in 2003, and skilled antenatal care is now at 97 percent.
The Mentors programme is presently being implemented in 21 counties, but Jacaranda Health is seeking to scale it up and expand it to include healthcare professionals throughout the country.
