Over the past years, significant efforts have been made to improve maternal health. Despite the interventions, Kenya did not achieve the targets set by the Millennium Development Goals that required countries to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by the year 2015.
In fact, there have been continued cases of women losing their lives during delivery, both in urban and rural areas. According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, the country’s maternal mortality rate stood at 488 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2008/2009.
Currently, an estimated 8,000 women die every year in Kenya due to pregnancy-related complications. Some of these causes include haemorrhaging, complications from hypertensive disease, sepsis, unsafe abortion, and HIV-related infections. Previous studies have pointed out that during delivery, some caregivers underestimate actual blood loss.
The other consideration is the differing capacities of individuals to cope with blood loss. These two are crucial in determining the steps to treating a woman suffering from postpartum haemorhage.
Evidence suggests that active management of the third stage of labour reduces the incidence and severity of postpartum haemorrhage and should be recommended to all women.
Kenya has a robust legal and policy framework that governs maternal and reproductive health. The country has put in place policies that support maternal health and reproductive rights initiatives.
Recently, the Government included misoprostol, a pill used in the prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage, on the Kenya Essential Medicines List 2016.
Misoprostol could prove to be a woman’s only chance for surviving postpartum haemorrhage in areas with limited infrastructure and a shortage of skilled birth attendants.
However, the Ministry of Health must work with partners to ensure there is sufficient supply of the drug, even in hard-to-reach areas. More so, there is a need for continued advocacy efforts to see that high-quality misoprostol is availed to women when they need it most and that it is administered correctly.
Women who are known to have risk factors for postpartum haemorrhage should have regular antenatal and postnatal check-ups. We must also make sure health workers have proper facilities and are given access to the appropriate medications for the management of postpartum haemorrhage.
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