Reproductive and Maternal Health
Maternal and newborn health remains an issue in Kenya, with only half of women receiving the recommended number of antenatal care visits and roughly half of births occurring unattended and at home – a worrisome decline in care and attended births over the past decade. Fertility rates are high, contraceptive prevalence is low, and health services are often inadequate and under-funded. Strengthening the health system and evidence-based improvements to the quality of emergency obstetric and newborn care services is pivotal to reversing the trend of high maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality.
MEASURE Evaluation PIMA (MEval-PIMA) supports Kenya’s Division of Family Health and Reproductive and Maternal Health Services Unit (RMHSU) to monitor strategy implementation, standards, and tools for data quality. Challenges remain, however, in investment for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) adequate to meet increased information demand and ensure accountability at national and sub-national levels. Consequently, MEval-PIMA supports M&E practices and the increased use of data in Kenyan counties, especially those with high maternal and newborn mortality rates.
Key areas of focus:
- Strengthening organizational and institutional capacities to review national RH strategy, training in data analysis, and routine work planning;
- Capacity building for M&E, including data analysis and usage;
- Support for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of family planning, obstetric, and newborn care services in counties with high maternal mortality; and
- Support for the development and use of RHMSU information products, such as annual reports, bulletins, policy briefs and other demand-driven products.
Related Content:
- Availability and Quality of Emergency Obstetrical and Newborn Care Services in Kenya – Results of Three Annual Health Facility Assessments
- Health Facility Readiness to Provide Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care in Kenya: Results of a 2014 Assessment of 13 Kenyan Counties with High Maternal Mortality
- Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit for the Scale-Up of Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care in Kenya
- Opening the Black Box of Maternal and Newborn Deaths in Kenya: A Report on Technical Support for Implementation of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response
- Reproductive Health and Maternity Services Unit Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity: End Line Assessment Report
- Setting New Goals for Family Planning in Kenya – Building on Decades of Progress in Contraceptive Use
