Mothers in the KMC position
The practice of kangaroo mother care (KMC) for premature babies helps to prevent about 75 percent of deaths among the over 120,000 babies born before their due date in Ghana.
The Paediatric Society of Ghana during a media engagement to mark the 2016 World Prematurity Day commemorated on November 17 said KMC method of caring for preterm babies is a simple but proven method that saves preterm babies and helps with their proper development by reducing complications such as hypothermia (low body temperature).
Dr Kojo Ahor Essel, a specialist paediatrician at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) and a member of the society, said preterm babies are highly susceptible to difficulty in breathing and infections which are significant threats to their lives.
He, however, stated that with the practice of KMC, a significant number of premature babies survive the health problems associated with their birth.
Touching on the immediate benefits of KMC to mother and baby, Dr Essel mentioned that KMC stimulates proper breathing in the baby and also helps the mother to produce adequate breast milk which contains the right amount of nutrients the preterm baby needs for proper development.
Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, Deputy Director of Reproductive and Child Health at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), pointed out that the GHS has initiated various strategies to improve the care of new born babies through training of health workers, improving ante-natal care and post-natal care services and encouraging family planning methods.
She said with the launch of the National New Born Health Strategy in 2014, the country has scaled-up the practice of KMC in hospitals across all the regions in the country.
“Since last year, the GHS has tasked every region to have KMC in hospitals that offer maternal services, so those who did not have the unit can for training and have established one now,” she stated.
Dr Sagoe-Moses stressed that although the KMC is a cost-effective intervention that supports preterm babies to survive, the emotional support that caregivers require from health workers and family members contributes to make a difference.
Dr Victor Ngongala, Chief of Health and Nutrition, UNICEF, said the UN was working with the Ghana Health Service and the Paediatric Society of Ghana to harness multi-stakeholder support towards accelerating the achievement of the global goal to end preventable newborn and child deaths by 2030.
He said through the collaboration, the stakeholders have developed the standard of quality of care for new born babies as well as partner private sector to deliver quality care for new born babies.
World Prematurity Day
World Prematurity Day is commemorated annually to raise awareness of the heavy burden of death and disability, the psychological stress, and the pain and suffering that preterm birth causes to parents, families, communities and nations at large.
The media were taken on a tour of the Ridge Regional Hospital KMC Unit, where they had the opportunity to experience the practice of KMC which is basically the skin-to-skin contact the mother has with the child to simulate warmth and foster the development of premature and underweight babies.
The unit had four mothers practising the KMC at the time of the visit and through their interaction with the media, it was visible the practice has been a great source of help to their babies’ development.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri