This story was writen by: Grace Kapatuka, Malawi News Agency.On August 14, 2014, Doreen Phiri of Masautso village, in Chief Zulu’s area in Mchinji started experiencing abdominal pains.Since she was in the middle of her seventh month of pregnancy, Phiri thought it was just one of the pains which come with pregnancy.“Being an experienced mother who has by then given birth thrice ruled out that it could be labour pains since it was my seventh month and to my knowledge, a full term pregnancy lasts nine months and to me it was just mere pain and I started off to the hospital to seek medical attention,” she said.To her surprise, when she reached Mchinji District Hospital, she was told that labour has started.“The nurse who attended to me, after examinations told me that I was in labour. Some hours later, I gave birth to a set of pre-term twins with low birth weight and all were girls,” said Phiri.Phiri’s twins weighed 800 grams and 900 grams each which is very low, as far as new born birth weight is concerned.According to the in-charge of the maternity ward at Mchinji District Hospital, Temwanani Msango, a new born baby’s weight is supposed to be 2500 grams(2.5kg) and above.With the 800 grams and 900 grams birth weight for Phiri’s new born babies, it was automatic that the babies required Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) if they were to survive because the weight was very low.“After the delivery, I was told to go with the babies to the KMC ward where I was told to carry the babies on my bare chest to allow skin to skin contact between me and the babies,” she narrated.Phiri was supposed to do this right from birth and continuously day and night.Being twins, she had difficulties in the first place to have the two babies carried by her as it was also her first time to experience this.“It was so difficult in the first place because I had to carry both of them on my chest day in and out. But as time passed by I get used and the babies started gaining some weight,” she said.Kangaroo Mother Care is a method of caring pre-term infants which involves carrying them on the mother’s chest to maintain skin to skin contact between the child and the mother as a way of keeping the babies warm.“The reason behind this method is to serve the lives of pre-term and low birth weight new born’s because the skin to skin contact between the two, keeps the baby warm and its easy for them to grow and gain weight,” said Msango.According to her, KMC has the potential to save lives because it regulates baby’s temperature as well as breathing, promotes breast feeding and encourages mother and child bonding among others.After staying in the hospital for one month, Phiri was discharged and by then, the babies weighed 1.5 kg which according to Msango was also on the lower side.“When we see that the mother is adhering to what she is recommended to do, we discharge them when the babies reach 1.5 kg and advise them to keep on practicing KMC at home. They are also required to visit the nearest hospital once a week for checkups,” she said.Phiri was discharged in September, 2014 with her babies weighing 1.5kg each.“I continued doing the same at home and when I wanted to prepare the other kids for school; I could leave the babies with my husband because I taught him how to do it and after the kids have gone to school, I could get them and release my husband for business because he is a business man,” said she.Months passed by and Phiri continued with the method until the time her babies weighed 2.5 kg when the doctors told her to stop practicing KMC because the babies had by then reached the recommended birth weight.At seven months now, Phiri’s twins whom she named Jessie and Julliet, weigh 4.4kg and 4.8 kg respectively.Jessie and Julliet, are just a few of the many babies that have been saved through KMC at Mchinji District Hospital.District Nursing Officer (DNO) for Mchinji District Hospital, Emmanuel Mpoola, told Malawi News Agency (MANA) that from January 2014, to January 2015, the hospital had registered 35 pre-term babies with low birth weight of which 33 out of them survived.“We used to have more cases of low birth weight before and most of them died because KMC was not like a priority to us.“Looking at the rate at which we were losing the new born babies, we thought of engaging an extra gear by allocating a nurse who is special for the KMC ward and the deaths have drastically reduced,” said Mpoola.According to him, since February 2014, when a nurse for the KMC ward was allocated, it is only in October, 2014, when the hospital lost 2 new born pre term babies out of the registered 20 that were born that month.Mpoola attributed poor nutrition and stress during pregnancy as some of the possible factors contributing to the birth of pre-term and low birth weight babies in the country.“We haven’t yet done a research to find out what causes this but we just feel those are the factors leading to this,” he said.The nursing officer said it was pleasing to note that most women that have delivered pre term babies are adhering to the method, a development he said is contributing well to their effort of saving lives of new born babies in the district.He however also said there is need for hospitals that are practicing KMC to consider introducing entertainment activities in the KMC wards like Tv’s and others as a way of entertaining mothers.“The KMC practice can be tiresome sometimes because a mother is supposed to carry the baby on her chest 24 hours and most of the times they sit on the same position for a long time and it’s tiresome. Sometimes they can go out but they don’t take long outside hence spend more time indoors,” he said.The hospital’s focal person for KMC Hyacinta Nkhata said the hospital is promoting KMC because it is the cheapest way of reducing child mortality.“Some years back we used to have incubators which were used for pre-term new borns but they are expensive, the temperature had to be controlled now and then since they were using electricity. KMC is costless and doesn’t require controlling the temperature. Another good thing is that it promotes bonding between the child and the mother,” she told Mana.She said though the hospital has registered success, some women still absconds and go home without the hospitals approval.“There is need for awareness campaigns to the pregnant women on the benefits of KMC if we are to save more lives. The method has the potential of reducing child mortality, hence we need to do more,” she said.Community Mobilisation and Advocacy Coordinator for Parent and Child Health Initiative (PACHI) an organization working in the district to promote maternal and child health, through its Mamaye Campaign, Austin Njera, commended Mchinji District Hospital for its efforts in saving the lives of pre- term new born babies.“It is our wish to have a country where no pre term child dies. We know if we hold hands we can do it,” said Njera.
Doreen was in the middle of her seventh month of pregnancy, when she went into labour. Luckily the hospital where she gave birth has a special nurse for the kangaroo mother care ward and deaths have drastically reduced.