In 2012, Lwala Community Alliance launched the “Safe Babies” program. Through the program, a team of Community Health Workers (CHWs) were trained and deployed to recruit and enroll all pregnant women in the service area to participate in the entire continuum of maternal, neonatal, and child health care. Through Safe Babies, the CHWs have reached close to 900 expectant and new mothers to provide home-based health education and encourage prenatal care, delivery with a skilled nurse, and immunization of all infants. Lwala Community Hospital offers post-delivery stays and follow-up within 3 days of all home-based deliveries, thanks to the new maternity wing added to the hospital facility. With a new ambulance and 2 outreach motorcycles, Lwala Community Alliance established a rapid transport network for women in labor.
Lwala Community Alliance has had a remarkable impact in the lives of mothers and babies. Currently, 92% percent of pregnant women are delivering at a health facility in North Kamagambo, up from 26% before Safe Babies was implemented. In February 2013, 100% of pregnant women in our catchment area delivered with a skilled nurse for the first time ever. The CHWs have done an incredible job linking women to care. There are many more mothers and babies to reach, and the demand for care continues to stretch our clinical care capacity.
This program and maternity wing expansion was made possible by hundreds of personal donations, the Deb Miller Memorial Fund, the Real Medicine Foundation, World Children’s Fund, Segal Family Foundation, and Ronald McDonald House Charities.
