HERAF

More than 15 years since the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI), efforts invested in maternal and newborn health programmes have not yielded the expected results, especially in sub Saharan Africa. This has been attributed to low awareness on maternal danger signs, inadequate information on how to deal with emergency needs during a pregnancy and inadequate capacity by Governments especially in Sub Saharan African countries, Kenya included, to ensure adequate availability, retention, training, and recruitment of skilled birth attendants.

To address these low standards of maternal, newborn and child health persistent in Kenya, HERAF in collaboration with the National Partnership Platform (NPP), through financial support from the International HIV & AIDS Alliance, with KANCO as a funding channel, implemented the project towards improved maternal, newborn and child to advocate for better MNCH services. The strategies used included; advocacy among policy makers, dissemination of IEC materials, involving the media, community mobilisation and lobbying for commitment in increment of financial resources to maternal, newborn and child Health in Kenya.

The specific objective of the project was to reduce MNCH mortality in Kenya, in particular HIV related MNCH mortality through HIV & AIDS social mobilisation, advocacy and enabling WLHIV and their families to overcome barriers to accessing effective health services.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The project resulted in;

• Increased knowledge by parliamentarians, policy makers and other stakeholders of the critical policy and programme gaps that are affecting demand and supply of MNCH services in Kenya
• Amplified lobbying for increased national financial resources allocation towards MNCH through the health sector.