Source: All Africa
Less than half of pregnant women are seeking delivery services in hospitals greatly putting their lives and those of unborn babies in danger.

Only two in every five are delivering in hospitals, said Planning minister Wycliff Oparanya.

He encouraged expectant mothers to seek professional health services at all stages of their pregnancy if the country is to reduce the rate of maternal and infant mortality cases.

In a speech read by Economic Planning Secretary Dr Steven Wainaina during the launch of the 2010 Kenya Service Provision Assessment (KSPA) Report, Mr Oparanya said despite the overall improvement in the provision of health care services more needed to be done to on maternal health care.

"We want to encourage all pregnant women to have access to skilled care at all stages of pregnancy, delivery and post-natal care," Mr Oparanya said.

"We also want to increase the capacity of clinics to provide maternity care and encourage women to seek professional help."
The survey showed that only 30 per cent of health facilities provide normal delivery services. Some 59 per cent offer postnatal care.

The report further indicated that maternal health services were not constantly available throughout Kenya.

Mr Oparanya said only two out of five women deliver in health centres. "The health of the mother is the pillar of the family and should therefore not be endangered," he said.

According to global targets under the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, maternal mortality ratio should be reduced to 200 deaths per 100,000 live births, Mr Oparanya said.
Kenya is currently experiencing 488 deaths per 100,000 live births. Mr Oparanya said the rate of child mortality had started declining.

The 2008/2009 Kenya Health Demographic Survey showed a reduced child mortality rate of 52 deaths per 1,000 live births down from 77 deaths per 1000 births in 2003.

The 2008/2009 statistics also showed a great reduction from the 115 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 74 deaths in 2009.

"Our target is to reduce the child mortality rate by three quarters. This translates to reducing infant deaths from 52 per 1,000 to 20 per 1,000 by 2015," Mr Oparanya said.

The survey shows that nationwide, 74 per cent of health care facilities provide antenatal care services.
For the first time, the survey observed issues to do with labour, delivery and newborn care, ranking Kenya among the first countries in the world to make such observations.

Public Health Permanent Secretary Mark Bor said there had to be a joint effort among different stakeholders in the health sector to improve the provision of services.

"Different players have to come up with strategies to improve the health sector," said Mr Bor.

He said the government had employed 50 health workers in every constituency helping to improve health care provision.

Mr Oparanya said the government needed to re-focus efforts to achieve the desired outcomes by providing a baseline for monitoring the health strategic plan.

• Kenya