By Prince J Musa in Kenema
A Non-Governmental organization, Care International has on the 10th of February 2022 launched the Mama-Baby pack Kits Project aimed at supporting lactating mothers and pregnant women in ten districts of Sierra Leone.
The mama-Baby kits contain detergent soap, fabric materials, sanitary pads, and bags, plastic buckets for the baby, rapper, bathing soap, baby powder, towel, and other assorted items for both mother and child.
Speaking at the event at the Milton Margai clinic at the government hospital in Kenema, the District Medical officer Kenema, Dr. Donald Samuel Grant said, that the organization was able to secure a package that comprises kits for pregnant women and lactating mothers, adding that the symbolic launching is to ensure transparency and accountability and for the public to know that such packages have been given for the people of the district.
Dr. Grant stated that the mama-Baby pack kits are not only meant for one chiefdom but will cut across all the chiefdoms in the Kenema district. He used the opportunity to thank Care International for considering the district for such projects which encourages pregnant women to continue attending clinics and to give birth in the health centers.
The Manager for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Daniela Boi Charles, said that Care has helped the people of Sierra Leone in different areas of development since 1961 which includes saving lives and to fight poverty.
She said the mama –Baby project is introduced as a result of the effect of the coronavirus disease which affected the turnout of patients in the hospitals even when it is important to attend. ‘’This is to help discourage home delivery and maternal mortality in the country,’’ she said.
She maintained that Kenema is among ten districts that will benefit from the project and that Kenema receives a total of one thousand three hundred and twenty-five (1325) kits for pregnant women and another one thousand three hundred and twenty-five (1325) kits for the babies. Of the figures, she said 150 will stay in the city of Kenema while the rest will go to other health centres in the district, targeting 66 and above health centers as a pilot phase.
The Programmes Manager National Medical Supply Agency, Robert Dixon said, an assessment was done in order to ensure that the kits go to the rights beneficiaries in the PHU’s in the district.
He pledged the Agency’s commitment to ensure that the kits are properly monitored in the district so that the right categories of people will benefit from it.
Dixon commended the organization for their support towards the healthcare system of the country, noting that most of the medical stores in the districts were rehabilitated by them and also supported the Ministry with liquid soaps and hand sanitizers to fight the COVID pandemic.
Haja Alice Jeneba Koroma of the Ministry of Social Welfare east commended Care for prioritizing the issues of women and children which are the core focus of the ministry and therefore encouraged the pregnant women not to abandon the health centers for home delivery which endanger their lives.
Speaking on behalf of the Kenema city council, Councilor Benedict Abdulai Jusu thanked Care International and DHMT for the support given to their people, saying that as Councilors, they look forward to such partners that help the government in service delivery for the people.
He assured of the council’s support towards all development programmes in the country and called on the beneficiaries to make good use of the items they have received.
Isata Sama commended the government of Sierra Leone and Care International for thinking of the difficulties that women face in bringing up a child especially from pregnancy to the time of delivery and used the platform to advised her colleague women not to convert the items into other purposes but to utilize it for its intended purposes as that will help their children to grow up well.
The Project is funded by the German Government, implemented by Care International through the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (11/02/22)
