• The county with the lowest mean availability of essential medicines was Tharaka Nithi at 25 per cent.
• Facilities in urban settings had a higher mean at 45 per cent, while those in rural areas had 30 per cent.
Image: /FILE
Only five counties have at least 50 per cent of the essential medicines needed to provide maternal health services.
They are Marsabit, Samburu, Mandera, Isiolo and Kwale.
Marsabit county has the highest availability of essential medicines at 62 per cent, followed by Samburu at 61 per cent.
The Kenya Harmonised Health Facility Assessment 2018-19 report shows that Mandera, Isiolo, and Kwale scored 52 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
Tharaka Nithi had the lowest mean availability of essential medicines at 25 per cent.
Facilities in urban settings had a higher mean at 45 per cent, while those in rural areas had 30 per cent. Dispensaries have the lowest availability at just 33 per cent.
The report further shows that only 50 per cent of health facilities in Kenya offer delivery services.
Private hospitals had the highest mean for tracer items for essential medicines, with government facilities having the lowest mean at 36 per cent.
“Essential care should be given to every newborn baby regardless of where he or she is born or his or her size. Emergency Newborn Care should be applied immediately after the baby is born and continued for at least the first seven days,” the report says.
According to the report, many emergency newborn interventions are simple and can be provided by a skilled birth attendant, trained community health workers, traditional birth attendant or a family member supporting the mother in a health facility or at home.
“They include cleaning the airway and stimulating crying, drying the baby with clean clothe, covering the head without wiping the vernix caseosa, and refraining from bathing the baby for 24 hours,” the report says.
Vernix caseosa, also known as vernix, is the waxy or cheese-like white substance found coating the skin of a newborn baby.
It is produced by dedicated cells and is thought to have some protective roles during fetal development and for a few hours after birth.
Other interventions include immediate warming by placing the baby in skin to skin contact with the mother, using kangaroo mother care for a low birth weight baby, cleaning the umbilical cord, eye care, immediate and exclusive breastfeeding and recognition of dander signs of care-seeking special care.
The report further notes that only 62 per cent had injectable antibiotics for neonatal sepsis while 48 per cent had corticosteroids to administer during pre-term labour.
The survey was aimed at providing essential information at national and county levels to facilitate decision-making on investments needed to deliver the necessary health package towards universal healthcare and fill critical data gaps in health service availability and readiness.
Data collection for the survey was conducted in November and December 2018 by a team of supervisors and research assistants drawn from both the national and county governments.
The data was collected from 2,927 health facilities out of the targeted 2,980.
It was released in Nairobi by the division of monitoring and evaluation head at the ministry Hellen Kiarie.
“Focus on maternal and reproductive health will go a long way in ensuring we attain UHC goal. What we have to do is to address the key gaps in human resources, supplies and infrastructure,” United Nations Fund for Populations Dan Okoro said.
The report was a collective effort by health partners including USAID, GAVI, WHO, UNICEF, the Global Fund, World Bank, CDC and UNFPA.