Health Minister commissions maternity wing at Kwitanda Health Centre in Balaka equipped with state-of-the-art medical accessories

* Before the maternity wing, expectant mothers from the area had to walk long distances to Utale Health Centre

* Which is over 10kms away o covering 30kms to Balaka District Hospital to access maternity care services

By Paul Madise, MANA

Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda yesterday officially opened a maternity wing at Kwitanda Health Centre in Balaka District, constructed at the cost of K49 million, equipped with state-of-the-art medical accessories.

Kwitanda is in Traditional Authority (T/A) Msamala and before the maternity wing, expectant mothers from the area had to walk long distances to Utale Health Centre, which is over 10kms away or covering 30kms to Balaka District Hospital to access maternity care services.

Kwitanda Health Centre in Balaka South Constituency serves a population of over 18,000 people and after commissioning the facility, Minister Kandodo Chiponda said the maternity wing will play a crucial role in fighting against poor health service delivery in the district, while acknowledging the long distances as a major maternity challenge the community had been facing.

“The Maternity Wing at Kwitanda Health Centre is being given to this community in order to improve the delivery of quality healthcare services,” she said. “Members of this community used to walk long distance to access healthcare services — but now that is history.”

The Minister commended developmental partners for their support and commitment in ensuring quality healthcare services in the country, further noting their efforts to eradicate cholera outbreaks in the country.

Present was Balaka South Constituency Member of Parliament, Ireen Mambala who described the state-of-the-art facility, as a “game changer” in her community.

“I expect that with the development of the wing, we are going to significantly reduce maternal mortality rates in the area,” Mambala said. “The situation before was worrisome as many women were dying on the way to the nearest facility when it was their time for delivering.”

Prior to the opening of the maternity wing, Chiponda launched oral cholera vaccine camping at Dzimwe Health Centre in the district, facilitated by one of the development partners, World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO’s Expanded Program on Immunisation leader, Dr. Aisi Akoso, pledged total support to ensure access to quality healthcare services for all, saying: “The opening of the maternity block here ensures access for all in terms of the cholera vaccine deployment.

“WHO supported the country to access cholera vaccines and we are also providing technical and financial support for the deployment of these vaccines to the last mile,” she said.

She further emphasised that through collaboration with the Ministry of Health, WHO is using diverse strategies, such as static sites at the health facilities and other temporary sites in different places — including high-traffic areas like markets, community water points and schools; for people to access cholera vaccine.

The Health Minister expressed the government’s commitment to improving health service delivery in the country in line with the MW2063 sustainable goals.

The new maternity wing has been constructed by Balaka District Council with funding from the district development fund (DDF) and has uplifted the face and status of the facility, which was established in 2004.

According to a report by VillageReach — an organisation that improves the capacity and reach of health systems in rural, low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa — introduced in 2008, Kwitanda Community Health Project (KCHP) within its Kwitanda catchment area.

The goal was to reduce malaria and diarrhea specifically but over time, the goal of the project evolved beyond disease incidence and focused on strengthening the health system in Kwitanda community to health centre level through health worker training and health program support.

“In 2014, VillageReach refined its scope of work within Kwitanda, focusing on outcomes dedicated to reducing maternal, neonatal and child morbidity & mortality.”

The report’s executive summary said from 2014 to 2015, as VillageReach continued to implement programs in Kwitanda catchment area — “ensuring that services were being delivered to the very last mile” — antenatal care (ANC) services were one such example.

Over 600 women were attending one of VillageReach’s outreach ANC clinics and over 1,000 deliveries being captured by VillageReach health workers — yet, the remoteness of the locations in which the organisation worked continued to provide challenges and opportunities.

Transportation conditions stood as a challenge in ferrying the ANC outreach team to remote locations to attend to women in need of prenatal, postnatal, and obstetric care, who had traveled for hours, often on foot.

VillageReach spotted that a Kwitanda health centre located centrally in the catchment area had the potential to supplement its cadre of high quality maternal and neonatal care initiatives through construction of a maternity wing at the health center — to “provide women in the community with a safe and proximate alternative for giving birth”.

“We also implemented incentive programs aimed at encouraging positive antenatal behavior among Kwitanda community members,” said the report. “The solar lantern incentive addresses the finding that every month into a pregnancy decreases the likelihood of a woman seeking out antenatal care, which also highlights the need to encourage earlier action in antenatal care.

“Kwitanda community members have recognised the value of having solar lanterns, especially with the limited access to lighting and electricity in many of Kwitanda’s villages.

“A community-wide effort is needed to ensure that services are reaching those most in need, and strengthening relationships with community health workers and village leaders could improve the coverage of VillageReach’s programs.

VillageReach indicated in its report then that three priority outcomes and the corresponding objectives of the program were to reduce maternal, neonatal, and infant morbidity and mortality, through:

a. Increasing access to and use of reproductive, maternal and neonatal health facility-based services including antenatal care (ANC), postnatal care, emergency care, and facility-based deliveries; and

b. Increasing access to and use of reproductive, maternal and neonatal health community and home-based services and care practices.

The child morbidity and mortality was to be reduced through:

a. Increasing access to and utilization of health services for children under-five with a specific focus on timely diagnosis and treatment of common childhood conditions such as malaria, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and malnutrition;

b. Increase knowledge and use of proven preventive interventions at the community and household levels including improved water and sanitation, sleeping under ITNs, and improved nutritional practices.—Edited by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express