First Lady Margaret Kenyatta waves to the crowd on July 29, 2014, during
the handing over of the first mobile clinic to Taita Taveta as part of
her Beyond Zero campaign. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Kenya is off track in its efforts to
achieve two health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), First
Lady Margaret Kenyatta has said.
The First Lady said
Kenya might not achieve goals four and five, which aim to reduce child
mortality and improve maternal health by 2015.
“With
less than 500 days remaining, Kenya is clearly off track to achieving
MDGs four and five on maternal and child health,” she said Wednesday.
She urged health stakeholders to make maternal and newborn survival a priority.
“Our
health systems must deliver for our mothers,” she said in her remarks
during the opening of a consultative meeting on maternal and newborn
health.
She lamented that many women and newborns were
dying unnecessarily in Kenya, saying the trend was unacceptable and
should be reversed.
ALARMING STATISTICS
“In
this country we lose over 5,500 mothers every year, a statistic too
hard to take as normal in this age of development and fifty years
post-independence.
“These statistics indicate that we
will have lost 18 to 20 mothers by the end of today, which is equivalent
to an 18-seater minibus with pregnant women crashing and killing all
the passengers every day,” she said.
She said most of the deaths are avoidable and preventable.
The
First Lady said Kenya had a chance to reverse the trend to meet the
goals and commended government efforts to offer free maternity services
and improve the skills of health workers.
She said
health services had been devolved, giving the country a chance to tailor
interventions to ensure the two goals are achieved.
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