This archive report was first published on 8 August 2019.
August 8, 2019, marked a significant milestone in Kenya's healthcare sector with the launch of East Africa's first breast milk bank at Nairobi's Pumwani Maternity Hospital.
The hospital, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and PATH, a U.S.-based nonprofit health organization, aims to reduce the number of newborn deaths, which currently stand at 39 per 1,000 live births.
For premature babies, those born with low birth weight, and those whose mothers may not be able to breastfeed them, the milk bank provides a lifeline. The hospital has already seen a positive impact, with more mothers leaving with healthy newborns.
"Though the project is still very young, we have noted that the neonatal mortality rate is going down drastically," said Keziah Njau, the head nurse at the hospital.
The breast milk bank is the first in East Africa and the second on the continent after South Africa. The World Health Organization recommends breast milk for premature babies, as it increases their chances of survival.
Dr. Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, a senior research scientist at Nairobi's African Population and Health Research Center, led the push for the Nairobi milk bank. "Research has shown that neonates, like pre-term babies and low birth weight babies or sick children, survive better when given human donor milk instead of formula," she said.
Donors are sourced among mothers within the hospital, and one such donor, Mary Ndinda, expressed her happiness in saving lives. She opted to donate to women who do not have milk or to babies who do not have mothers because her breasts were engorged and very painful just days after she gave birth.
