Kakuma- May 7, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
At least 27 healthcare workers have been sensitized on the 2024 guidelines focusing on improving Maternal Perinatal Deaths Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) cases across high-burdened health facilities in Turkana West and Lokichoggio Sub-Counties.
The meeting aimed at disseminating new MPDSR guidelines to targeted health facility workers, and Sub-County Health Management Team drawn from 16 health facilities. Supported by Danida-Transcend Project, the targeted 23 healthcare workers and 4 sub-county health management team members will now be able to further prevent and respond to avoidable maternal-Perinatal mortalities.
This national MPDSR provides guidance on strategies to constitute different MPDSR Committees and conduct reviews of maternal and newborn deaths as well as near misses, both at health facilities and community levels.
Speaking at the meeting, Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Janerose Tioko lauded the partners supporting the Maternal and Neonatal Health (MNH) through Danida, UNICEF, Africa Medical Research Fund (AMREF), International Rescue Committee and Save the Children International.
“The county government has developed Maternal and Neonatal Health Acceleration Plan 2025-2030, which will act as a road map seeking to boost efforts to end preventable maternal deaths and improve newborn outcomes,” she said.
She added that this sensitisation is important because it enhances technical support to enable healthcare workers to improve on maternal indicators in the county and sub-county levels.
She also stressed the urge to form new committees comprised of Community Health Assistants in sub-counties to cascade knowledge shared to create awareness within the communities. This will lead to increased advocacy and coverage for Reproductive Maternal Neonatal Child Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) at the community level.
The Deputy Director of Family Health Gabriel Lopodo highlighted maternal, neonatal and child health status with the county playing a key role in reducing maternal mortality rates from 1,594 per 100,000 live births to 381 per 100,000 live births slightly above the national Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of 355/100,000 live births.
He added that these positive trends have been realised due to increased access to health care, eliminating financial gaps to health care, and addressing socio-cultural access through the vast Community Health Services network.
The County Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Coordinator Fatuma Rajab encouraged the health facility and workers to focus on the need to enhance quality of care so as to lower the MMR to the Sustainable Development Goal target of 70 per 100,000 live births.
“With the new MPDSR guidelines, health workers will identify causes for maternal and child deaths. It is more of preventing maternal and neonatal mortalities in the future, thus leading to reduced MMR in the county level,” she said.
County Health Records and Information Management Officer Peter Etee, pointed out that the guidelines outline the reporting pathways and documentation processes of avoidable factors with a vivid response mechanism to avoid future maternal and neonatal deaths.
Danida-Transcend Project Technical Officer, Gabriel Eyeen mentioned that given the collaboration with the County Government on the new guidelines for MPDSR, this is set to strengthen and enhance skills of healthcare workers, to ensure they conduct prompt surveillance and respond effectively to maternal and pre-natal morbidity.
It is expected that successful implementation of these guidelines will increase accountability for the causes of Maternal and Perinatal Deaths and the associated factors as well as help healthcare workers, policy makers, and stakeholders to prevent and respond to avoidable maternal and periatal deaths.
Those in attendance were the County Health Management Team, Sub-County Health Management Team (Turkana West), Nurse and Facility-in- charges (Turkana West), and Community Health Assistants.
