Maternal and Child Health Clinics

A SUMMARY OF 2022

1)      MATERNAL CHILD HEALTH PROGRAM.

The COVID 19 pandemic led to the underutilization of health facilities, increasing mortality rates among children under five years. This challenge is further worsened by the inconsistency in medical supplies, leading to poor health-seeking behavior—HopeCore's Village-based MCHs help bridge the gap of access to essential maternal and child health services. We also run a static clinic at our premise for walk-in clients. Our goal is to reduce maternal and neonatal child mortality and morbidity for the underserved population in Mwimbi and Muthambi Sub-counties through health education to mothers, nutritional assessment (growth monitoring) for children under five years, malaria prevention interventions, Vitamin A supplementation, deworming, and access to free treatment services for children under five years and their mothers. In 2021, 5341 mothers were educated on Family planning, Pneumonia, and hypertension. Growth monitoring was done to 7563 children; 86 malnourished children were successfully reviewed and managed by the nutritionist at our clinic.

Four thousand four hundred ninety-two 4492 children received vitamin A supplementation to boost their vision, growth, cell division, and immunity. Additionally, our clinical team dewormed 5139 children under 5 years; to increase nutrient uptake and protection them from chronic illnesses caused by worms.

2)      COMMUNITY HEALTH VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM.

Village HopeCore works with a team of 730 Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) in four Sub-counties of Tharaka Nithi County. The CHVs champion preventive health through household education in their respective Community Health Units. HopeCore is tasked by the Tharaka Nithi County Department of Health Services and sanitation to build the capacity of the CHVs through bi-monthly training and equipping the CHVs with flipbooks as teaching aids. The CHVs' household education supplements our MCH intervention by promoting preventive health. In 2021, we conducted 4 CHVs campaigns:

a)      Tuberculosis & Pneumonia

HopeCore's first campaign of 2021 was on tuberculosis and Pneumonia, and the household education campaign ran from February to March 2021. The campaign was a buildup to World TB Day (WTD), marked on 24th March. We also recognized a need to discuss Pneumonia at a community level because it's the leading cause of mortality among children under 5 years in Kenya. We trained 622 CHVs from the four sub-counties and equipped them with flipbooks with critical TB and pneumonia messages. The CHVs conducted 23,029 household visits, educating 92,116.

We also collaborated with the county government in conducting sensitization on TB and testing. The Tharaka Nithi County Government awarded HopeCore a certificate of recognition for its effort in fighting TB.

b)        Community Maternal and Neonatal Care (CMNC)

Community Maternal and Neonatal Care are essential in improving the health and survival of women and their newborn babies during pregnancy, childbirth, growth, and development. In April 2021, HopeCore trained 661 Community Health Volunteers on CMNC: Prenatal Care, Antenatal Care, and Postnatal care with an emphasis on the importance of health facility deliveries, immunization, Vitamin A supplementations, and deworming for children under five years. The CHVs sensitized 23,840 households on CMNC in April and May 2021 in the four Sub-Counties.

c)      Family planning 

Our third campaign was Family Planning, set to run in June and July 2021. Family planning (FP) is one of the most transformative approaches to attaining improved global health. FP helps to improve women's health and that of their children. According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) report of 2014, one in every four (or 25%) women of reproductive age has an unmet need for family planning ranging from knowledge and access to FP products. 651 CHVs were trained on family planning in June.

d)     Hypertension

Hypertension is a primary contributor to cardiovascular diseases, one of the leading causes of death globally. In 2020, Tharaka Nithi County recorded 27,136 hypertension- KDHIS data 2020. So far, over 22,000 households have been sensitized on Hypertension. The campaign runs to the end of January 2022. 

3)      MALARIA PREVENTION PROGRAM.

HopeCore's malaria prevention program aims to reduce malaria-related morbidity and mortality through health education on Malaria, distribution of long-lasting treated nets to children at school entry-level, free malaria tests, treatment, and sensitization of communities in Mwimbi and Muthambi sub-counties on Malaria.

This program targets children joining the Early Childhood Development and Education(ECDE)/ pre-primary class where their parents get educated on Malaria, and the children receive treated mosquito nets. In 2021, Our Community Health Officers (CHOs) educated 3246 mothers on malaria prevention; 3322 children received free Long Lasting Treated Nets.

Conclusion

We understand that 2021 was still challenging because of the COVID 19 pandemic. Therefore, we thank you for sacrificing your resources primarily to help Village HopeCore International realize its vision of having economically empowered and healthy communities in Africa. Through your efforts, we have managed to put a smile on the faces of thousands of mothers and children in Tharaka Nithi.

HopeCore’s Village-based Maternal Child Health program is a community-based program that seeks to improve Maternal Neonatal and Child Health in Mwimbi and Muthambi Sub-Counties.  The program adopts a mix of interventions to reduce the burden of maternal and child mortality and morbidity in underserved communities; the interventions include health education to mothers, nutritional assessment (growth monitoring) for children under 5 years, malaria prevention, Vitamin A supplementation, deworming and access to free treatment services for children under 5 years and their mothers.

A Primary Pillar of HopeCore’s MCH program is health education. Health education to mothers/caregivers aims at empowering mothers and caregivers to take charge of their health and their families, promote health, and prevent diseases, disability, and premature death through education-driven voluntary behaviour change activities. Our teams conducted 96 Village-based MCH clinics where the Community Health Officers educated 1755 mothers on Community Maternal and Neonatal Care (CMNC) and Family planning.

We conducted Nutritional assessment/growth monitoring for 2220 children under 5 years. Growth monitoring is the regular measurement of a child-size weight and head circumference to detect abnormal growth like stunted growth, affecting many children.  35 children who were found to be malnourished were referred to a dietician at our clinic for proper management.

 Additionally, we provided Vitamin A supplements to 941 children. Vitamin A helps children to have a normal function of the immunity system and to maintain healthy vision. HopeCore clinical team provided free treatment services to 2,311 children during the MCHs. The children were treated on conditions such as tinea, pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea. 1225 children were dewormed.

Furthermore, we ensured continued health education in our communities through training of Community Health Volunteers to serve a health ambassadors in their villages.  HopeCore has adopted a flipbook campaign approach in training CHVs. The CHVs are trained in smaller groups at their Community Health Units; they are then equipped with flipbooks as teaching aids. Within this reporting period, we have done two flipbook campaigns:

a)      Community Maternal and Neonatal Care (CMNC)

Community Maternal and Neonatal Care are essential in improving the health and survival of women and their newborn babies during pregnancy, childbirth, growth, and development. In April 2021, HopeCore trained 661 Community Health Volunteers on CMNC: Prenatal Care, Antenatal Care, and Postnatal care with an emphasis on the importance of health facility deliveries, immunization, Vitamin A supplementations, and deworming for children under five years. The CHVs sensitized 23,840 households on CMNC in April and May 2021in the four Sub-Counties.  95,360 were sensitized on CMNC.  

b)     Family planning

Family planning (FP) is one of the most transformative approaches to attaining improved global health. FP helps to improve women's health and that of their children. .651 CHVs were trained on family planning in June and July. The CHVs conducted 20,450 household visits where 81,800 adults of reproductive age were educated on FP.

Thank you for your continued support of our programs.