Our initial contact with Kwali local government was our response to an article in Leadership newspaper online about settlements in its jurisdiction in dire need of water, back in June 2015. During the project that resulted from this plea, Adadu WASH, the people of the settlement communicated several of their daily challenges. Most notable is the poor access to health facilities which meant that most of their pregnant women have their babies at home.
In January 2016, we decided to look further into this feedback by deploying a survey in the settlements. We found that 9 in 10 mothers had their last deliveries at home under the supervision of untrained and unequipped traditional birth attendants; leading to 1 in 4 newborn deaths. We also found out that, the distance to delivery facilities and the misperception that only weak women seek non-traditional help during childbirth deter pregnant women in these settlements from delivering their babies in health facilities.
Some of the other findings are:
● 33% of the people surveyed have radios
● 0% of the people surveyed have electricity in their homes
● 0% of the people surveyed have television in their homes
● 77% of the people surveyed have mobile phones
● 72% of the people surveyed can read in a language
● 67% of the people surveyed are farmers
● 23% of the people surveyed are herdsmen
● 43% of the people surveyed have primary school education
● 32% of the people surveyed have secondary (high) school education
● 7% of the people surveyed have higher (tertiary?) school education
● 30% of the people surveyed make use of the clinic
● 25% of the people surveyed do not go to the clinic because it is too far
A direct result of this survey is The Happy Birthday Project designed by True Wellness to leverage key features of this community, and address the behavioural and service delivery challenges.