Maternal Aid for Mothers in Africa (MAMA) is celebrating 5 years of strengthening and promoting women’s health, education and socioeconomic empowerment in rural and marginalized areas in Kenya. 

MAMA was established in 2017 with an aim of strengthening community health systems to ensure access to maternal and child healthcare services among vulnerable communities living in rural and marginalized areas in Africa.

Since our founding five years ago, we have formulated and implemented multiple programs and projects in the areas of health education, women entrepreneurship training, nutrition, community health research, beekeeping, and empowerment of community health workers and traditional midwives to provide safe and quality maternal and child healthcare services in Baringo County. 

Our programs have positively impacted a community of over 3500 people living in Tiaty East, Baringo County. Unlike before, more women in Baringo are visiting health clinics for prenatal, antenatal and postnatal care after we run health education interventions in the region to create awareness on the importance of giving birth in the care of trained health professionals. 

When we landed in Tiaty East, formerly East Pokot, most pregnant women used to give birth at home, in the bushes while tending to livestock and often in the hands of untrained and unequipped traditional midwives, commonly known as traditional birth attendants (TBAs). 

We prioritized training of traditional midwives in East Pokot to increase utilization and integration of the community’s resources and assets into the mainstream community health system and reduce maternal and child mortalities. 

We also equipped TBAs with birth kits, which included surgical blades to cut the umbilical cord, gloves for hygiene when delivering babies and a small blanket to wrap the baby. The kits have reduced transmission of infections to the mother and child during and immediately after childbirth, further lowering maternal and child deaths in the region.

Even as we mark five years of improving reproductive health in rural and marginalized communities as part of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we’re committed to working with other health stakeholders and partners to reduce maternal and child mortalities in Baringo County by at least 50% in the next five years. 

We will continue with our mission of strengthening and promoting maternal health in marginalized and rural areas in Kenya and beyond.

Article by David Njiru