Inadequate facilities and equipment had seen this region experiencing some of Kenya’s worst maternal and child health outcomes. This bold and critical project will be crucial in saving the lives of many women and infants across the communities of the Masai Mara.
Asilia is immensely proud to be a supporter of the newly built Talek Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Centre at the Community Health Partners (CHP) Talek Health Centre, which officially opened its doors on the 1st of March in the heart of the Masai Mara. The opening of this maternity facility is a pivotal moment in significantly improving the quality of healthcare available to the women and children in the Maasai community. Until now, expectant mothers have often faced serious difficulties in their motherhood journeys due to limited access to high-quality maternal care. The reality is that without high levels of care, pregnancy can quickly result in life-threatening complications for mum, baby, or both.
The new maternity centre will allow women to have full access to assisted deliveries and caesarean sections when needed, neonatal high dependency for critical life support, and a maternity shelter for high-risk pregnancies where women can be supported with on-site living. This centre is the first of its kind in the region and will revolutionise health care in the Masai Mara, allowing safer deliveries of babies and improved support to mothers within the community. The centre has been built by one of our incredible Positive Impact Partners, The Maa Trust, who have funded the process through generous donations from a variety of partners and donors, including Asilia. We are honoured to be contributing towards this project through our 2023 Asilia Giving donations, which will be allocated directly towards staffing costs. This includes specialist theatre and neonatal nurses, an anaesthetist, a head nurse, and the first doctor to ever be attending to local residents, Dr Angela Meipuki – herself a Maasai.
Since opening the doors to patients on 1 March, the centre has safely delivered more than 100 healthy babies, including several successful emergency caesareans carried out by Dr Angela Meipuki. The first caesarean was carried out on 7 March. A 33-year-old primary school teacher named Caroline arrived at the MNCH after going into labour. She received regular checks as her labour progressed and, after 17 tiring hours of pacing, the examination showed she was 8cm dilated but the baby had not yet descended. It was decided a caesarean section was needed, and it was soon discovered that the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around the baby’s neck and arms, hence preventing the descent during labour. Within 45 minutes the caesarean section was completed, thankfully without any complications for mum and baby who continue to do well. Dr Angela Meipuki reminded us that if these new facilities were not here, and she was forced to refer Caroline to Narok Hospital several hours away after 17 hours of labour, the baby would have arrived with severe foetal distress and may not have survived.
Another woman to make use of the new facility so far is a 24-year-old mother of four named Karen. All of Karen’s children have been born prematurely. With her first born she visited a clinic but was told to return home as she was not due yet, only to then immediately deliver the baby upon arriving to her house. With her second born, she again visited a clinic but was referred to Narok Hospital. Karen was still within the Masai Mara National Reserve when she delivered her baby prematurely in the vehicle with no medical assistance. With her most recent pregnancy, Karen was overjoyed to learn she was having twins, however at just 30 weeks’ gestation she started to feel pain whilst milking the cows at home. By 14h00 the pain had worsened, but it still took 4 hours just to source a vehicle to eventually escort her to the new facility.
Her twins were born as soon as she arrived at the MNCH centre. A boy and a girl, weighing just 1.36kgs each, they were provided with care in the neonatal high dependency unit. The baby girl started experiencing respiratory distress and was placed on oxygen, followed by the use of a CPAP machine to ensure that her lungs were fully inflated. Both twins were fitted with feeding tubes so that they could receive supplemental feeds in addition to their attempts at learning to breastfeed. Luckily Karen had heard about the grand opening of the centre the day before, and so knew to go straight to the new health centre instead of driving hours away to Narok. The twins would have been born on route to the hospital and may not have survived without immediate medical attention. Karen was able to stay with her twins at the facility until they were healthy enough to move home.
To further support and encourage more mothers like Karen and Caroline to deliver their babies at the facility, each mother will receive a comprehensive postnatal care kit which contains essential items for both mother and baby. The kit includes baby clothes, reusable nappies, reusable sanitary pads, mosquito nets, porridge, a washing basin, soap and a household water filter. Asilia will be raising donations by selling these Mama Kits in our guest shops to be donated to the health centre. The hope is that these kits will not only better the well-being of mothers and children but will also encourage more women to use the facility for safer deliveries of babies in the Masai Mara community.
If you would like to donate towards the purchasing of Mama Kits, please visit our philanthropic arm, Asilia Giving, and donate to “Community based projects in Kenya”. Please include in the notes that you would like the donation to go towards Mama Kits.
