A mother and her newborn baby. Hospital births rose to 90.1 per cent of registered national deliveries in 2015, up from 83.4 per cent the previous year. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Government campaign bears fruit as more than 90 per cent of mothers give birth in health facilities.
Giving birth outside hospital is a risky gamble, especially in cases where expectant women run into unforeseen complications.
Out-of-hospital births tend to involve less specialised intervention like Caesarean section, leaving women and the unborn at high risk of injury or fatality should complications arise.
Luckily for Kenya more women are now opting for safer births in hospitals, latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows.
In 2015 just about 9.9 per cent of all registered births in Kenya took place at home down from 16.6 per cent the previous year, according to the Economic Survey 2016.
Hospital births rose to 90.1 per cent of registered national deliveries in 2015, up from 83.4 per cent the previous year, with authorities attributing it to safety campaigns and cost waivers by the government.
“Cost is a non-issue now since the introduction of free maternity services in 2013. In the case of distance, some home births happen when a mother does not know her due date hence opting for the nearest option,” Health Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri says.
Under the free maternity care initiative health centres across the country receive Sh2,500 per delivery, Level 4 and 5 hospitals get Sh5,000, and referral hospitals like the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) Sh17,500.
Most counties in 2015 registered hospital births of more than 90 per cent, indicating progress in the campaign on safer birth.
Nairobi, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Mombasa, Embu, Garissa, Meru, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Siaya, and Nyamira are among counties that recorded the highest number of hospital births in 2015.
Other top performers were Homa Bay, Kisumu, Siaya, Kajiado, Nakuru, Baringo, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet and Machakos.
Some counties such as Tana River, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Narok and Bomet however recorded low child births in hospital in 2015, raising concern over safety of newborns.
“Marsabit, Tana River and Wajir counties recorded relatively high rates of over 40 per cent of births registered at home,” the newly released Economic Survey 2016 says.
Bomet County, surprisingly, witnessed a significant increase in total number of births during the review period and a worrying drop of mothers delivering in health facilities.
In 2013, the County recorded the lowest number of total births (at 26,245) during the same period with 78.5 per cent recorded in health facilities while 5,653 were recorded homebirths.
However, in 2014 the number of homebirths increased double fold to 10,792 out of 27,220 total number of births. Last year the number stagnated at 10,227 out of 33,297 total births.
Dr Muraguri however says some health facilities have not maintained accurate birth records, meaning that up to 30 per cent of all births in the country may be going unregistered.
Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu says that the government targets to include mission and private hospitals in the free maternity programme with payouts set at Sh5,000 per delivery to ease the burden of mothers delivering at home.
“It can save lives,” he says. Dr Mailu is a product of homebirth back in a village in Kitui. The maternal and child health mortalities improved during the 2013/14 financial year, the Health ministry said in its annual work plan for 2015/2016.
Delivery by skilled health workers increased to 61 per cent as compared to 44 per cent the before the start of the Free Maternity Programme.
The overall number of deliveries in public health facilities has increased from 676,107 deliveries in 2012 to 865,381 deliveries by end of December 2014 or a 28 per cent increase.
“This is a general pointer of improved quality of maternal and neonatal health services in the facilities. Maternal deaths have decreased by 8 per cent and child mortality has decreased by 15.3 per cent” the ministry said.
In addition, free maternity services have contributed to health facility decline in maternal deaths ratio from 154 per 100,000 live births in 2011/2012 to 118 per 100,000 live births in 2013/2014.
The current infant mortality rate is 39/1000 live births, while the under-5 mortality rate/per 1,000 in Kenya stood at 52/1000 (KDHS 2014). The major causes of this are pneumonia, diarrheal and malaria.
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