Bocking - maternal outcomes

And we know that in western Kenya, maternal mortality is around 500 per 100,000 live births. In Ontario, it’s about 7, so a huge difference. And again a complex problem; it’s not like there’s one way, one particular intervention that’s going to improve that. But our faculty, our team, Astrid Christoffersen-Deb who’s one of our faculty members, through the support of Grand Challenges Canada, and the Saving Lives at Birth initiatives, largely as a result of our Prime Minister’s support of global maternal, newborn/child health and Canada, and Canadians; has been able to show that by creating and helping to facilitate the development of group prenatal care, what they call “Chama Mamas”; these are pregnant women, come together, and they meet on a regular basis for prenatal care. And they talk about the warning signs, they compare notes. There are healthcare providers that are trained, helping to assist with that, and then they also meet during the newborn period, and it’s an opportunity where women actually can access prenatal care, the newborn and early young children can access care as well. And through these interventions, in an area within this catchment area, outside of Eldoret, Astrid and her colleagues at Moi University have shown that they can reduce that rate of maternal mortality by 50% over a three-year period. So that’s really remarkable and you know that’s again through a combination of interventions; the group care, making sure that health facilities are stocked with the supplies that are needed, encouraging and getting women to come to a health facility to have their babies. And in the same area, the same time as maternal mortality has been reduced, the number or percentage of women who actually give birth in a health facility in this area has increased from 40%, which is pretty much the average in Kenya, to 80%. So, by that combination of factors and, and also making the community really accountable.