By Ochaka Leonard
Infant mortality rate in Kenya currently stands at 30.629 deaths per 1000 live births, this presents a decline of 3.59% from 2022. It’s beyond any reasonable doubt that the effort of the government of Kenya and that of other non-profit making organizations have been very instrumental in reducing the rate of this menace. However, there is still a lot to be done so as to ensure that this problem is completely solved or reduced to the lowest level possible. However, more focus should be made on the following factors so as to ensure that this prolonged dream becomes a reality.
It is a requirement that infants should be fed with the diet that meet their energy and other nutritional needs. However, this still remain to be a dream for most parents in Africa because of poverty. According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey report of 2022, only 31% of children aging between 6-23 months were fed the acceptable diet in the previous year. Therefore, this calls for the need of putting more interventions that will ensure that even the less fortunate parents are able to satisfy the nutritional needs of their children because food is very essential for good health.
World Health organization recommends that a child should be breastfed for a minimum of two years or more. The main essence of this is to boost their immunity against various diseases and infections, the period of breastfeeding may vary between various parents due to different reasons but prolonged duration of breastfeeding still stands out to be more beneficial.
Even though the Kenya Demographic Heath Survey report of 2022 shows that there has been a substantial increase in exclusive breastfeeding from 13% to 60% since 2003. There is still need for sensitization of the masses on the need for prolonged breastfeeding so as to ensure that this percentage is raised to the optimum. Putting more emphasis on maternal education is also one of the most important factors that can help a great deal in reducing the rate of infant mortality in Kenya, since it can equip women with knowledge on various health interventions like; when to seek for medical care for themselves, how to follow the immunization schedule for their children, how to provide the child with proper nutrition and sanitation at home.
Generally, every health intervention geared towards alleviation of infant mortality requires some level of knowledge which can only be made available to the masses if they are well trained through community health volunteers and other partners. Prevalence of malaria and other infections like HIV also still remains a threat to the alleviation of infant mortality in Kenya. Malaria infection during pregnancy poses a substantial risk for the mother and her unborn child since it is a predisposing factor to abortion, maternal and fetal anemia and low-birth weight babies, Kenya malaria strategy 2019-2023 propose that pregnant women living in malaria-endemic areas should receive intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTP). However, KDHS report 2022 report shows that only 51% of children under age of five years and 45 % of pregnant women slept under insecticide treated net the night before survey. This clearly shows there is still need for sensitization of the masses on the importance of sleeping under treated mosquito net as a way of reducing malaria infection.
In conclusion, infant mortality rate is a problem that can be solved if both the masses, government, and the non-governmental organisations agree to work together in embracing campaign for the provision of good nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, prevention of malaria and HIV infection.
Ochaka Leonard is a Youth Advocate at NAYA Kenya
