Kenya

As part of our MANI programme in Kenya, a new fund supported by DFID will challenge global or local actors in the maternal and newborn health space to bring forward their new or scalable innovations that will help reduce high maternal and neonatal mortality rates.

MANI is working throughout Bungoma county in western Kenya to educate communities and increase use of health services.

On the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights, Options’ Team Leader Nicole Sijenyi Fulton reflects on the realities of disrespect and abuse in childbirth in Kenya, and what should be done.

This month, The Girl Generation launched a new End FGM Grants Programme in Kenya.

This week, our Maternal and Newborn Improvement (MANI) project hosted an event in Kabuchai, Bungoma County, to launch a new mobile phone application.

Across Bungoma County, pregnant women have typically enlisted the help of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to deliver their babies at home instead of going to a health facility. The MANI project aims to change this by reorienting TBAs to become ‘birth companions’.

Our Maternal and Newborn Improvement (MANI) project in Bungoma, Kenya hosts a visit from DFID Kenya.

Our Maternal and Newborn Improvement project hosted an event where it donated essential medical supplies and equipment to the Bungoma County Department of Health.

'Be bold for change' means to continually stand up for change to end FGM.

"Boldness for me is about perseverance and having the tenacity and determination to persist with something that’s right, something that’s just."

This World Health Day, Kimani Karuga, Technical Manager for the County Innovation Challenge Fund, talks about the need to address postpartum depression in teen mothers in Kenya.

On the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights, Options’ Team Leader Nicole Sijenyi Fulton reflects on the observations she made on this day last year about disrespect and abuse in childbirth in Kenya, and what Options is doing.

MANI in Kenya uses a transport voucher scheme which enables poor pregnant women to access health services for the safe delivery of their babies.

“He is really liked by the community. They are comfortable with him and feel he’s a very good midwife. Women have so much faith in him. They request Ben, instead of the doctor.”

The Maternal and Newborn Improvement project in Bungoma, Kenya, supported the county to celebrate midwives and nurses for International Day of the Midwife.

On World Blood Donor Day, Options’ staff in Kenya talk about the challenges and solutions to maternal mortalities caused by postpartum haemorrhage. By Nicole Sijenyi Fulton & Peter Kaimenyi

With funding from the CICF, PATH and the African Population and Health Research Centre are exploring the feasibility and acceptability of establishing a human milk bank in Kenya.

The World Health Organisation says breastfeeding is the best way of providing babies with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development. But what needs to be done to make this possible for mothers?

“Prior to community scorecards, the health facilities had no means of communicating with the public except through funerals.”

The County Innovation Challenge Fund (CICF) held an award ceremony in Nairobi for five new organisations that are joining the fund’s portfolio, marking its entry into a third round of innovations.

“Now that we have solar power, powering the maternity unit, […], we shall provide quality service to the community." Power outages have made it impossible for Kenyan health facilities to provide vital services but solar panels offer a solution which improves maternal care without harming the planet.

How a low-cost, simple intervention saves a mother's life.

150 activists from 17 countries met in Kenya for the first ever pan-African Youth Summit to End FGM.

In Bungoma county, the supply of blood is difficult to retain due to lack of volunteers donating blood, a high prevalence of bloodborne infections & limited funding for blood transfusion services. The MANI project has been working to tackle shortages by improving quality & access to these services.

Performance Based Financing is used in Kenya to incentivize health workers to improve maternal and newborn health services. We look at how this led to a three-fold increase in the number of deliveries being conducted at Sikulu Dispensary in Bungoma County.

In Bungoma county, Kenya, transport vouchers are being used to enable poor women living in remote rural areas, including those with disabilities, to get to a health facility to deliver their babies.

MANI helped develop a mentorship programme in Bungoma County to address acute staff shortages in two major health facilities, and to develop the skills of nurses and midwives working throughout the county in lower level facilities, to provide Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care.

Family Planning is central to achieving gender equality. Access to family planning commodities means having the choice to decide if, and when, to have children. When women and girls can access family planning, they can be empowered to meet their full potential.

The second African Union International Conference on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (ICMNCH) was held last week. Over 700 delegates from 25 African countries gathered in Nairobi, Kenya to take stock of progress and re-strategize how to reduce maternal and child deaths on the continent.

World Prematurity Day highlights issues faced by the 15 million preterm babies born annually. These infants are particularly vulnerable, but simple solutions can reduce mortality rates. We’re supporting innovations such as Kangaroo Mother Care and Human Milk Banks to save newborn lives.

There are 200 million young people living in sub-Saharan Africa, yet older generations are still the decision-makers on issues like adolescent healthcare. E4A-MamaYe has been working to change this, giving young people a voice to ensure governments invest in their health and in their future.

The Maternal and Newborn Improvement (MANI) project started in 2015 to expand access to quality care in Bungoma County, Kenya. As the programme ends, we look at some of MANI’s key innovations, to increase the number of women delivering with a skilled birth attendant and accessing life-saving care.