IMPROVING MATERNAL-FETAL OUTCOMES THROUGH ACCESS TO POINT-OF-CARE ULTRASOUND (POCUS)
Obstetric ultrasound has become an imperative component of ANC worldwide, with the World Health Organisation recommending that every pregnant woman should receive at least one ultrasound before 24 weeks of gestation.
Unrealized maternal and child health goals continue to challenge LREB region and Kenya at large where adverse outcomes remain high and diagnostic services are limited. The acute shortage of doctors and radiographers requires alternate human resources for health (HRH) with the ability to identify risk factors in pregnancy through Point-Of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS).
LREB in partnership with KEMET and the Center for Public Health and Development (CPHD) Ministry of Health Department of Reproductive Health converged today in Kapsabet town to deliberate and develop a unified roadmap to strengthen the skills of our health cadres through implementing ultrasound education, training, and certification as a focused strategy to reduce preventable maternal-fetal morbidity and mortality throughout the region.
The most common causes of neonatal mortality as infections, birth asphyxia, birth injuries, preterm births, and birth defects. It is worth noting that these mortality causes are conditions for which timely ultrasound imaging could be of immense help in early diagnosis and hence intervention, leading to the reduction of mortality rates among mothers and their babies.
Ectopic pregnancy, abortion, and gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTDs) are the commonest conditions of the first-trimester that can cause maternal mortality, due to the possibility of severe haemorrhage, shock or sepsis. Patients usually present with bleeding and/or pain but can also remain asymptomatic for a long time. In some cases patients don’t even realize that they are pregnant, particularly in some cases of ectopic pregnancy and missed abortion. Ultrasound imaging is extremely useful for obtaining accurate diagnosis for these first trimester conditions. It is therefore important to exclude early pregnancy pathology in every woman of reproductive age who presents with amenorrhoea, abnormal bleeding and/or pain, using diagnostic ultrasound imaging in combination with beta human chorionic gonadotropin (β-HCG). This approach to medical care can potentially reduce maternal mortality rates.
LREB aims at implementing ultrasound education, training and certification in reducing preventable maternal-fetal morbidity and mortality throughout the region hence improving Maternal- Fetal outcomes through access to POCUS and Making POCUS for Every Mother Accessible (MaPEMA) project.
Present at the meeting were, The CECM Health for Health Ruth Koech, Chief Officer Fredrick Kiptum, Director for Health Dr. David Bungei, Kapsabet Referral Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr. Aiyabei Ismael, Reproductive Health Co-Ordinator Laban Talam, LREB CEO Representative Martin Sikolia , KMET Research and Monitoring Coordinator Brenda Achieng’ and Liddy Dulo Reproductive health programs Coordinator.