From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: KENYA: MOTHERS' IGNORANCE ACCOUNTS
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 05:58:57 GMT

Area: Africa, southern
Reference: Third World Dvpmnt; Women
Title: KENYA: MOTHERS' IGNORANCE ACCOUNTS FOR HIGH INFANT MORTALITY


an inter press service feature

by pamphil h. kweyuh

nyatike, kenya, aug 24 (ips) -- thirty-three-year-old angela
tembo has six live deliveries on her maternity record, but only
two children have survived.

''the child must be really sick when i resort to hospital for
treatment'', she says after trudging 29 km from her village to a
clinic at nyatike, a trade centre in south nyanza district of
western kenya.

this is the nearest public health facility from her village.
there is no public transport in the area and women trek long
distances with babies strapped on the back whenever they require
treatment or vaccination.

''i only come here when i must ... the child must be very
sick for me to make the journey'', tembo emphasizes. her baby
has contracted measles.

a combination of general poverty and lack of education for
mothers accounts for a high infant mortality rate in this
district which borders lake victoria. tembo had three years of
primary education.

available health statistics indicate that each year around
140,000 children under five years of age in the district die of
preventable diseases. the infant mortality rate in the district
is slightly below 300 per 1,000 compared with kenya's national
average of 74 per thousand.

although the supply of essential drugs, equipment and
logistic support in the district is inadequate, rural health
centres can control the common child-killer diseases, namely,
measles, whooping cough, diphteria, polio, tuberculosis and
tetanus.

however, the missing link between the health infrastructure
and the local population is the women's education and awareness
to determine nutrition and physical development of children.
child deaths are so high that the people take them as an
ordinary occurence.

in developing countries, the u.n. population fund (unfpa)
says in its 1992 world population report, ''each extra year of
education for a mother reduces her children's mortality risk by
an average of seven to nine percent''.

kenyan traditional communities need to be enlightened on the
connection between the status of women and the country's pace of
development. (more/ips)


kenya: mothers' (2)

five districts around the east african country have
persistently dragged behind in kenya's expanded programme on
immunization of children against the common killer diseases.

south nyanza and siaya districts in western kenya, wajir
district in north-eastern province, kitui in eastern province
and the coastal districts of kwale and kilifi have registered a
poor performance since the launch of the programme in 1980.

while the national immunization coverage is rated at four
percent below africa's target of 75 percent, less than 40
percent of children have been immunized in the five districts.

''we have a persistent fear of losing children and women want
to have more and more children to the level that their health
status is poor due to frequent deliveries'', observes nurse
pacifica kobe.

''people in south nyanza are not ignorant of the need for
immunization'', contends michael flavin, a child health advisor
attached to the immunization programme.

''the problem is in a host of inter-related factors which
outweigh the benefits'', he says. there is an attitude against
going to clinics ''for no apparent reason'', flavin explains,
''while the attitude of health workers towards the mothers is
also a cause of worry''.

''there seems to be a condescending attitude towards the poor
rural mother by health workers, who put themselves in an
all-knowing position. they also tend to scold women too sharply
on such matters as missed appointments, child cleanliness'', the
health advisor says.

frequent postponement of appointments due to vaccine
shortages, long distances to clinics, congested schedules for
domestic chores, and an inherent fear that healthy looking
children may be bewitched by women whose babies are in poor
health, are noted by flavin as hindrances to success of the
programme in kenya.

a study undertaken in south nyanza district by two kenyan
medical researchers early this year shows higher immunization
rates where mothers had good relationship with health staff.

doctors nicholas dondi and joyce olenja have found out that
residents of south nyanza ''are still in need of detailed
explanation of immunizations benefits as well as close to home
examples''.

''but those we found out to keenly pursue the full programme
were those whose husbands gave fare to and from clinic, reminded
them of clinic dates and interpreted the information contained
in the (clinic) cards'', the researchers' report adds.
(end/ips/phk/ar/92)




-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african