Promising new approaches to save mothers and children at birth

This past week I shared a platform with some of the leading personalities in the world on ending preventable maternal and neonatal deaths.

The question of newborn survival was central to most deliberations and while it emerged that solutions to problems we face are available, affordable and acceptable, the challenge remains mechanisms to get these solutions to those in need.

Contrary to what many have believed, the biggest challenge is not lack of money but rather political will. Examples were given of developing countries that have achieved tremendous results just from having strong political leadership. The Republic of Rwanda and Eritrea were mentioned as examples as well as Sri-Lanka.

My own experience in the field of implementation science, field programme implementation, teaching at university as well as community groups has led me to a strong conviction that indeed what we need is a voice of authority that can be listened to. One that can influence, inspire and transform individual women, families, communities as well as health service delivery systems.

There is need to scale up organisational capacity and resources and involve every player in the country to make sure that by 2030, all preventable deaths are ended and not reduced. Kenya is one of the countries in the world with the most creative approaches to improving maternal and child health issues. The message, therefore, was delivered loud and clear that we should not settle for less in seeking to end preventable deaths

While patting ourselves for reduction in maternal mortality, we should remain mindful that the ratio at 360 per 100,000 live births is still high. Our mothers are still dying needlessly. This is especially depressing when we recognise low cost technologies for addressing this state of affairs are available.