See our Milk Babies!
These babies are started on the milk program due to maternal death or severe malnutrition. They receive milk for the first year of life, which is saving their life. Their growth is tracked monthly, and they typically reach the 60-80% rate. For information regarding the Baby Milk Program, visit our blog here.
Publications
| Post Courier: Saving Kamea Babies |
HEalthy Mom = Healthy Baby
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Currently between 70-100 women come for prenatal check ups. Each Tuesday, they are invited to class to learn about their pregnancy, prepare for delivery, and how to care for their coming baby. Each mom receives a birth kit with essentials for delivery.
We are so thankful for a partnership with Vitamin Angels to help provide prenatal vitamins for our mamas during their pregnancy. The clinic is funded primarily by overseas donors and has a volunteer expatriate staff who work beside a paid national staff. Utilizing solar power alone, our diagnostics are limited to point of care hemoglobin, malaria RDT tests, blood glucose, urinalysis, HCG, and two donated ultrasound machines. The ultrasound machines are used regularly during prenatal checkups. These are vital to verify that a baby is in the correct delivery position after performing an external cephalic version of a formerly transverse baby while in utero. Since we do not have access to do surgical c-sections, Kunai has utilized this life-saving technique to turn a baby to the right delivery position. The lives of many mothers and children have been saved because of having these diagnostic tools. Another valuable use of the ultrasound machines is identifying and reducing broken bones. It is also used for confirmation of multiple babies in a pregnancy, or ruling out placental previa. In high risk pregnancies it is vital for these mothers to know risks ahead of time in order to be able to walk to the hospital three days away for a safer delivery. |
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TB Program
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Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is an airborne bacteria that, when breathed in, can infect any and all areas of the body, but especially the lungs. Medication must be taken daily for at least for 6 months (and sometimes up to a year) to be cured from this dreaded, contagious disease.
But people can be cured if they complete the daily treatment. Kunai Health Centre has over 375 patients who have completed their treatment. Not only have their lives have been spared, but many times the disease has been stopped from spreading to their loved ones and friends.
We are grateful for World Vision International for their help in supplying medicines and laboratory supplies for our patients. At this time, we have about 50 adults and children who are taking Tuberculosis treatment.
But people can be cured if they complete the daily treatment. Kunai Health Centre has over 375 patients who have completed their treatment. Not only have their lives have been spared, but many times the disease has been stopped from spreading to their loved ones and friends.
We are grateful for World Vision International for their help in supplying medicines and laboratory supplies for our patients. At this time, we have about 50 adults and children who are taking Tuberculosis treatment.
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Elizabeth Polmek began working at Kunai Health Centre by helping to triage the patients as they came. Each one needed to be sorted into categories of who needs a nurse right away and who only needs a bandaid or a Tylenol, and then could be sent on their way. On Tuesdays, she worked in our Well Baby Clinic, weighing the little ones and sorting out the immunizations that were due. Elli regularly taught our Kamea moms how to bottle feed their malnourished or adopted babies. She also taught and implemented different methods of family planning. She helped with assessing our TB patients and giving them their next month's medicine.
Elli preformed amazingly, loving the people even though she comes from a different people group than our mountain Kameas. She is from the coast and married a Kamea man, and they have three children. Elli is an outspoken Christian, who loves on all our patients. However, over the last two years, Elli has focused more on the TB treatment program. In late 2018 and 2021, she was able to obtain further training, and is now able to diagnose patients by doing sputum analysis, using slides and a microscope. She spends many hours fixing and reading slides. Being a people person, she also enjoys times of checking the patients, making sure they are taking their medicines correctly, and their bodies are recovering. While educating the families, she also does “contact tracing.” It’s extremely important to know who has been exposed to the TB patient. Elli is such a blessing to those she works with as well. Kunai Health Centre is better for having her. |
Severe Acute Malnutrition
The PRogram: Kunai Health Centre has been able to provide treatment for Severe Acute Malnutrition. All Kamea children receive Vitamin A and are regularly treated for parasites. Some are started on chewable vitamins with iron.
Despite the staff's best efforts, however, some children fail to thrive. This can happen for a variety of reasons. Some are unable to receive sustenance from a malnourished mother. Others fail to thrive because they are unable to get the proper nutrients from their diet. At an early age they start eating foods the rest of the family eats, usually a sweet potato and greens. Because the Kamea people are subsistence farmers, they live off what they grow. When an unusually rainy or dry season comes, their food suffers, causing the children to lack proper nourishment. UNICEF provides our severely malnourished children with Plumpy Nut, a protein and vitamin enriched peanut butter, that helps the children to gain weight and thrive. Approximately 15 kids are enrolled in this program each month, and come biweekly to get a check up. They usually graduate within 6 weeks - 3 months of treatment. |
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