Motorbikes and Midwives: Delivering Better Care for Kenya's Mums

2009-05-08

Having a baby in rural north-western Kenya is a risky business for the expectant mums who live there.

The likelihood of a woman dying in childbirth here is frighteningly high. Across the country, 560 mums die for every 100,000 children - in parts of northwestern Kenya that figure can double. In Britain the rate is around 8 in 100,000.

But there are many ways that aid money is making a big difference here. As part of DfID's wider £50 million country programme, they are putting in place newly-trained community health workers, a civic education programme, a new maternity unit, and a new motorbike ambulance service.

Magunga's baby bikes

Photo of a motorbike ambulance, northwestern Kenya (by Caroline Irby)It’s a 200cc motorcycle with a custom-built, padded side-car in which a patient can lie down, safely strapped in. In an emergency, a nurse or midwife can travel behind the driver.

Beatrice Achieng Ochieng, a hairdresser and a volunteer community health worker trained by DFID, helped Jane Mudaji, 32, get to hospital in the motorcycle ambulance. "It was the only way to get her to hospital in time: as soon as we arrived at the Magunga Health Centre, she delivered.

Raising awareness about the benefits of hospital delivery has made a big difference. Beatrice explains why women in the village hadn't used the hospital before: "Chiefly, before the training and education programme, they were frightened. Frightened that hospital was where you went if you were going to die. And that people might force them to have an HIV test.

Magunga's Health Centre serves a community of 40,000 people, some of whom travel - by foot or by motorbike - from up to ten miles away. Better services and training at the centre have led to a drop in maternal and child deaths in recent months.

Twenty-four year old Mary Atieno is expecting to give birth at Magunga Health Centre around Mother’s Day. She's one of many expectant mums in Nyanza province who have decided that hospital care is better than traditional methods, both for them and their babies. 

You can find out more from the DfID website, and from the eRanger website, who worked with DFID to provide the motorcycle ambulances.