Lodwar – 13th December 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

The Senior Health Management Team has been introduced to a new project by White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, which seeks to create awareness within the community on maternal and newborn health rights.

Funded by UNFPA, the organization aims to localize the “Every Woman, Every Newborn Everywhere” (EWENE) campaign. The campaign, a collaboration between the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, and partners, advocates for ending preventable maternal and newborn mortalities.

The campaign has set several targets, including achieving 80% antenatal care (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC) visits and 90% skilled birth attendance.

The countries targeted are those lagging behind in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Three, which seeks to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 and neonatal mortality to 12 per 1,000.

However, Turkana County’s maternal health indicators remain below the national average. Turkana reports a maternal mortality rate of 381 per 100,000, compared to Kenya’s overall rate of 355 per 100,000. Neonatal mortality stands at 21 per 1,000 live births, according to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.

White Ribbon Alliance Kenya will engage policymakers, healthcare providers, and women to jointly find solutions to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths. The initiative will also promote maternal health rights, ANC and PNC visits, self-care practices for expectant and new mothers.

The County Executive for Health and Sanitation, Dr Esekon Epem, highlighted the need to strengthen the 11 sub-counties to provide critical services, such as blood transfusions, to reduce distance travelled between the sub-counties to Lodwar County Referral Hospital for referrals.

The next engagement between the county department and the organization will focus on identifying priority areas to develop evidence-based programs.