June 16 every year marks the Day of the African Child. First established by the Organisation of African Unity in 1991, the day aims at raising awareness on the situation of children in Africa.
According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS 2008-2009) mortality of children under–five (between birth and fifth birthday) is reported at 74 deaths for every 1,000 children, while infant mortality (between birth and first birthday) is reported at 52 deaths for every 1,000 children.
In 2009, The Government of Kenya launched a Child Survival and Development Strategy in an effort to accelerate child survival and provide a framework to improve indicators for children. CHS joins in national efforts to contribute towards improving the health of Kenyan children through its commitment to the achievement of Millenium Development Goal (MDG) 4; to reduce child mortality and improve child health indicators.
Paediatric Care and Treatment
CHS supports provision of quality services for adults, adolescents and children, which are offered in family focused approaches. There are children and adolescent specific clinics to cater to the unique needs of these patients.
Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT)
Through the CDC funded TEGEMEZA project, CHS works in partnership with the Ministry of Health in Central Kenya to reduce the number of deaths and illnesses associated with pregnancy and child birth through scaling up Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of (PMTCT) services, supporting human resources for service delivery in facilities, training health care workers, community linkages and psychosocial support aimed at eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV.
This has been achieved through integration of ART services into the mother and child health clinic, employing clinical officers dedicated to PMTCT, synchronisation of HIV Exposed Infant (HEI) care with immunisation, peer education and psychosocial support by mentor mothers and defaulter identification and tracking mechanisms. CHS is also implementing a male involvement program to help men support their partners in preventing transmission to their infants.
CHS supports paediatric friendly clinics with paediatric specific clinic days where family focused care is provided. CHS supports comprehensive paediatric focused services including growth and development monitoring; immunisation as per the Kenya Extended Program on Immunisation (KEPI) schedule; nutritional assessment and counselling to families. CHS provides dosing charts and wheels to equip health care workers in prescribing ART dosage according to weight, given children’s rapid growth and change in weight.
Read more about CHS support towards reducing HIV related infant and chid mortality.
Tuberculosis
TB in children has been inadequately addressed over the years, yet the burden of TB among children under 15 years of age is estimated at 12% of Kenya’s total TB burden.
Control of TB in children is complicated by the inability of many children to produce sputum samples for diagnosis, limited diagnostic technologies for TB in children, complicated and often unavailable and/or unpopular diagnostic procedures, inadequate health workforce capacity and confidence to manage and treat paediatric TB, among other reasons. Younger children are vulnerable to TB infection due to lower immunity, and are often found in schools which are congregate settings in which TB can easily spread. Many outbreaks have in fact been reported in schools. The emergence of multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) has rendered children victims of contacts and poor case control of adults with TB.
Children can present with TB at any age, with the most common age being between the ages of one and four years. Risk of progression to disease is increased among the very young, immune compromised and malnourished children. HIV infected children have a lifelong risk of TB.
Through the USAID funded Tuberculosis Accelerated Response and Care (TB ARC) activity, and working in partnership with the National Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Unit (NTLD-Unit), CHS is committed to addressing Paediatric TB. This is through building the capacity of health care workers to strengthen clinical and laboratory diagnosis and management of paediatric TB, including sensitisation and mentorship on intensified case finding as well as use of new technologies and the provision of nutritional support as needed.
In 2011, through the TEGEMEZA project, CHS started supporting facilities in Central Kenya to offer Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT) for children under five with contact to smear positive TB individuals. Plans are underway to scale up IPT in priority counties through the TB ARC activity.