PICTURE OF MOTHERS ENROLLED TO KANGAROO MOTHER CARE IN INDIA. PHOTO BY AP

GOVT TURNS TO KANGAROO MOTHER CARE FOR PREMATURE BABIES

This Video from URBAN TV-KAMPALA

GOVT TURNS TO KANGAROO MOTHER CARE FOR PREMATURE BABIES

By Pascal Kwesiga                                                 

                             

The health ministry is rolling out a new program dubbed Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) to improve care for babies born prematurely.

The program is part of the three interventions the WHO has recommended for Uganda to save lives of 200, 000 babies born prematurely in the country each year.

This, according to the health ministry, implies that 14% of the babies are born prematurely each year. Premature births, according to WHO, is the World’s leading killer of babies, accounting for more than one million deaths each year, yet 75% of these babies can be saved without using high technology.

According to the health state minister in charge of general duties, Elioda Tumwesigye, the KMC that requires parents to keep babies born prematurely wrapped to their bare chests in blankets until they gain the required weight and capacity to withstand temperatures outside the mother’s womb, is being promoted along with steroid injections for mothers in premature labour and prevention and treatment of infection with antibiotics.

“Keeping preterm babies warm is important because their tiny bodies lose heat rapidly, making them highly vulnerable to illness, infections and death,” Tumwesigye explained.

Uganda and Malawi, the minister said have been identified by WHO to scale up the proven interventions to care for premature babies and serve as global and regional centers of excellence. The intervention is an alternative approach for premature baby care in countries where incubators are expensive.

“We are in the process of setting up neonatal care units countrywide starting with referral hospitals. We are also creating space for KMC at these hospitals,” Tumwesigye added.

In Malawi, he said KMC has reduced deaths from premature births by 40%. In Uganda, Tumwesigye explained that complications from premature births are directly responsible for 38% of neonatal mortality (death during the first 28 days of life).

Premature birth complications, he added, are the third largest cause of death of babies before turning five years after pneumonia and malaria. WHO ranks Uganda 13^th out of 184 countries with high number of babies born prematurely and 11^th for being with the highest number of deaths due to complications from preterm births. 

KMC, according to UNICEF, encourages the babies to start controlling their own body temperature, warmth and strengthens the emotional bond between mother and child. Since some of the babies are too weak to be breastfed, their mothers feed them on breast milk from a cup.
The babies, UNICEF, says have to gain a base weight of 2.5kgs and capacity to breastfeed without assistance before the hospital can discharge them.
A Malawian nurse, Netsa Gowelo told UNICEF officials during a visit at one of the hospitals “It’s rare for a baby to get sick or worse even after it has been discharged as long as they use KMC therapy at home. Keeping a baby wrapped to your chest does not only serve the purpose of keeping him warm, it also gives you the chance to keep an eye on him,”
Tumwesigye said facilities for KMC are established at all health facilities across the country. “We shall teach the parents on how to position the babies and help them to look after their premature newborns in those facilities,” he added.
Dr. Geoffrey Bisoborwa from WHO-Uganda said “These interventions are effective in saving lives of premature babies. We shall continue to give technical support,”
Enid Mwebaze, the commissioner nursing said “There is no specific time frame when one should stop KMC. It depends on how fast the baby is growing and we shall keep monitoring the babies in and outside the hospitals,”
Dr. Jessica Nsungwa, the acting commission child health said “KMC is simple and you don’t need high technology to use it. It will help us to care for the increasing burden of premature babies,” ENDS