The Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi.
File
The Ministry of Health has approved the use of two drugs used to treat excessive bleeding during childbirth, the leading cause of maternal deaths in the country, in all healthcare facilities.
In a statement on Wednesday, June 18, the Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society (KOGS) confirmed that Tranexamic Acid (TXA) and Heat-Stable Carbetocin (HSC), which previously were only allowed in referral hospitals, Level 4 and above, can now be used in all healthcare facilities, including levels 2 and 3, to treat Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH).
TXA and HSC are used to prevent excessive bleeding during childbirth, but they work through different mechanisms. On one hand, medics use the TXA to avoid the breakdown of blood clots, while on the other hand, they use the HSC to help the uterus contract to compress blood vessels and reduce bleeding.
However, the unavailability of these medicines in the majority of health facilities and frequent stockouts in health facilities, which were previously approved to use them, contributed to the accelerating rate of maternal deaths in the country.
A newborn maternity ward at Nairobi Hospital
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According to the KOGS, the approval of these drugs will be critical in reducing maternal deaths in Kenya, especially in remote areas, because they are cost-effective and easier to store compared to other medicines that have been used to prevent PPH.
The approval means that all hospitals will be allowed to stock the drugs, and insurance schemes in the country will also be allowed to pay for treatment that involves them.
While there has been a reduction in maternal mortality globally since 2000, progress has been uneven, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), with Sub-Saharan Africa continuing to bear the brunt of maternal deaths, accounting for a large percentage of the global total.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), the maternal mortality rate in Kenya is 355 deaths per 100,000 live births, which translates to roughly 5,680 maternal deaths annually, or about 16 deaths per day.
The announcement comes a month after Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, on Thursday, April 24, directed all regulatory bodies in the country to ensure that they survey and report to him every three months on the country's maternal mortality rate.
Duale, who acknowledged the Increasing rate of maternal mortality in the country, asserted that the move will be fundamental in projecting Kenya's maternal healthcare as the most prominent in the region.
"In three months, if we have a maternal mortality in a faculty, let's say level five, of 10-15 mothers, we must be concerned, and so the regulatory bodies must go and sit with the governors and inform them of where the problem is so that the governors can now also sit down with other heads of county health and the facilities and agree and tell us where the problem is," Duale said.
Echoing Duale, Tharaka Nithi County Governor Muthomi Njuki, who is the chairperson of the health committee of the Council of Governors, said that the government will remain at the forefront in weeding out medical practitioners who contribute to maternal deaths due to negligence.
Ministry of Health's Afya House Building in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Ministry of Health
