Access to quality maternal healthcare is crucial. During a mother’s pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, her immunity should not at one point be compromised because it can turn into a life-threatening case.
It is for this reason that the push for quality maternal healthcare continues to be a worthwhile struggle. Improving the health of women is a vital step towards overcoming intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence, as well as improving childhood outcomes. Women are fundamental to the prosperity of the family and community.
At Safaricom’s Ndoto Zetu, various projects have been funded to improve the quality of maternal healthcare women receive in different parts of the country. Thanks to Ndoto Zetu, we are taking the right step forward as a nation.
Lucy, a social worker at Korogocho, got to experience first-hand what poverty was doing to slum families. Women and families could not afford quality maternal healthcare. Some would resort to unconventional options which were unhealthy. Lucy decided to reach out to Ndoto Zetu to partner with her organization to help the community she assists. Provide international was able to supply the mothers in Korogocho slums with Mama pads, basins, and other amenities to aid them after delivery. This was a step to ensure easier maternal health care for the new mums.
Mazeras Health centre is another institution that has benefitted from Ndoto Zetu. The institution did not have equipment to help women deliver successfully. As a result, women would resort to delivering their babies at home, which can be unsafe in the absence of professionals. Alternatively, they would have to travel long distances to be able to give birth. They managed to get units for the maternity wing including maternity beds, bed warmers, and a TV set, all worth 400,000 Kenya shillings. This will make the childbirth process as a whole more comfortable and safe.
At Manoa Dispensary in Taita Taveta County, the institution benefitted largely from Ndoto Zetu. Manoa Dispensary lacked adequate equipment to perform deliveries. Prior to this, women would deliver babies on their way to the hospital or at home. Given that sometimes they would have to travel long distances in order to access maternal healthcare facilities, some of them lacked fare and transportation to get there. This posed a major challenge and a risk to the mothers.
Through Ndoto Zetu, they acquired delivery beds, baby warmers, a medicine trolley, and a TV set. This was all worth 900,000 Kenya shillings. Joyce Wauza expressed gratitude to Ndoto Zetu. The healthcare workers will now be able to deliver babies and take care of them better.
Improving maternal and child health at the Coast
At Wiyumirire Health centre, women have everything to be thankful for. Located in Laikipia, expectant mothers would previously have to be transferred to other facilities due to the lack of resources at the health centre. Thanks to a partnership with Ndoto Zetu, all that has now changed at Wiyumiririe Health Centre. The funding added up to 500,000 Kenya shillings. Peris Wambui, a mother and beneficiary, says that previously they would have to travel all the way to Nyeri or Nyahururu to access maternal healthcare facilities.
Prior to the funding, the asthmatic patients had to be referred to other hospitals because Wiyumiririe had no nebulizer. This was among the equipment they received from the Ndoto Zetu initiative. They also lacked an oxygen cylinder, and are now sorted. Purity Nyamu, a nurse in charge, thanked Ndoto Zetu, and Safaricom at large, for helping patients.
Improving maternal healthcare in Laikipia
Nairobi’s Dagoretti residents have everything to be grateful for with regards to maternal healthcare. Thanks to Ndoto Zetu, SPHEC Care Centre’s Maternity wing received equipment worth 300,000 Kenya shillings.
Hassan Otieno, a nurse in charge at the facility, was extremely grateful for the 5 beds and standard delivery couch donated to them by Ndoto Zetu. The substandard couches they had before were cumbersome and tiresome. The midwives would be extremely tired of delivering babies with the substandard couches, and this obviously affected their ability to do their job well. They applied to Ndoto Zetu and got positive and swift feedback.
Quality maternal healthcare for Dagoretti Residents
In Machakos county, women had to travel a long distance to deliver children. They would end up having unsafe deliveries in their homes or giving birth on the road. The mothers at the Tulia Dispensary in Machakos had no beds to rest in and they had to be sent home two hours after giving birth. This meant that they could not undergo monitoring and proper medical procedure after childbirth. Some would develop complications once they got home.
Ndoto Zetu then facilitated the delivery of an equipped maternity wing to Masewani Dispensary, at approximately 100,000 Kenya shillings. This has really made a difference for the community. .
Improving access to maternal healthcare in Machakos County
Quality maternal healthcare is crucial in ensuring that women deliver infants in a safe manner. One day, soon enough, the idea that a woman is forced to give birth at home or on the way to the hospital will hopefully not be a common thing thanks to initiatives like Ndoto Zetu. As has been said over and over again, empowering women has a profound, lasting impact on the world around them.
If you wish to partner with Ndoto Zetu for a health project kindly send a written submission through Safaricom Foundation’s Ndoto Zetu website or visit any Safaricom Retail Shop and fill in an application form for a chance to have your community dream realized. Successful participants will be contacted by the Safaricom Foundation through 0722 000 000.
