As the World is set to celebrate the Prematurity Day on 17th November, Bungoma County Referral Hospital is currently treating 58 babies in its newborn unit.
Some of those children are being attended too at the nursery section while others are undergoing Kangaroo mother care (KMC).
Kangaroo mother care is best for prematures where the baby is placed on the mothers chest to establish skin- to – skin contact to facilitate faster weight gain and prevent hypothermia while encouraging rooming in for the baby and the mother.
Addressing the press at the facility on Tuesday, Dr.Dickens Lubanga and Stephen Madara stated that the World Prematurity Day is an annual global event celebrated on 17th November and which raises awareness of the needs of premature babies and their families while highlighting the challenges involved in nurturing them.
Dr.Lubanga said the day is celebrated to promote early detection of preterm birth during pregnancy and advancing medical treatments.
“The day is set aside to empower the general population about babies born too soon and appreciate the care they require to reduce neonatal mortalities,” he said.
He called on expectant mothers to take necessary steps to protect themselves from infections, such as eating healthy foods, exercising, and avoiding smoking, drinking alcohol, and using harmful drugs,” he said.
Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that premature birth is the leading cause of death in children under five, with an estimated 15 million babies born prematurely each year. Complications of prematurity are the leading cause of death in the neonatal period.
More than 13.9 million babies are born Prematurely in the World and as such concerted efforts are needed to curb the issue.
Susan Kaangala, a nurse at Bungoma County Referral Hospital in the nursery and Kangaroo section says that premature births is a serious issue which must be addressed to reduce high mortality rates.
“We have 58 babies in our facilities who were born Prematurely and are undergoing treatment, 44 are being nursed in our incubators while the rest are being nursed by their parents in our Kangaroo section,” she stated.
She lamented about the shortage of nurses in the birth unit which strains the few ones, currently the birth unit have only 20 bed capacity while 10 beds are meant for Kangaroo mothers.
Kaangala further revealed that they receive children from as far as Trans Nzoia, Busia, Kakamega and some of the private and pereferral facilities.
“Currently we have a ratio of one health worker treating 50 children, children born at 37 weeks is a big problem and they receive 10 babies in a week who are pre term,” she said.
The main causes of premature births are matenal diabetes, blood pressure, malaria, hypertension and extreme age pregnancies.
Madara stated that in Kenya 134,000 children are born preterm.
“Out of the 10 children, one is born preterm, this leads to high mortality rates with 23 babies dying, while WHO wants the cases reduced to 12,” he said.
He noted that the mortality rates ranges between 20 and 28 depending with the season hence it poses a great danger to the County and the Country at large.
