Enduring partnerships
Two partners - Jacaranda Health and Thinkwell are collaborating with Makueni County Government to implement quality ecosystems to improve maternal and newborn healthcare.
They are providing solutions and linking them with available budget and data capabilities to aid mother and child health.
Mr.Joseph Mutweleli, Head of Partnerships at Jacaranda Health, this approach will leverage public partnerships and women's voices to help the Makueni County Government drive cost efficiencies in health funds as well as prioritizing investments in innovations and improvements in quality-of-care services.
Mutweleli, noted that the ultimate goal would be to increase available funds for maternal and newborn health solutions by 50 percent as well as reduce facility-based neonatal mortality and drivers of maternal death rate by 20 percent.
The Head of Programs at Jacaranda Health, Javan Waita, reported that the institution has been in Makueni since 2019 during which they have enrolled 95,040 pregnant and new mothers and reached 4,663 male partners across 80 health facilities. The have also empowered them with information to improve health-care seeking services through their PROMPT program.
The institution through a partnership with the health department has also been able to mentor over 250 nurses from 53 health facilities within the county who have successfully delivered over 1700 babies born every month.
Waita added that Jacaranda implemented a blood tracker innovation in 9 healthcare facilities, enabling them to identify the availability of blood.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, Health ECM Dr. Paul Musila, and Stephen Ndolo (Chief officer, health) held collaboration talks with the partners on Thursday this week at the governor’s boardroom.
Governor Kilonzo Jnr endorsed the program but urged them to hold counseling sessions for teen mothers who would most likely not say much as several of them might have gotten the babies as a result of defilement.
He stressed the need for pediatric wings in public hospitals within the county, indicating the importance of maternal healthcare.
