KANGAROO MOTHER CARE LAUNCHED IN BOLGATANGA (Daily Graphic, Saturday, November 15 2008. PAGE 11)

THE Minister of Health, Major (Rtd) Courage Quashiegah, has called on nursing mothers to adopt and incorporate the Kangaroo mother care (KMC) concept to promote the health and well being of premature babies.
Major (Rtd) Quashiegah gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of the KMC concept for the Northern Sector of the country at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
The KNC Concept is a method of care of preterm infants which involves infants being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact.
Under this new methodology which was pioneered as a home care system for premature infants in Bogota , Colombia , in 1979, KMC is an alternative method to inadequate and insufficient incubator care for premature babies.
To practice KMC, the mother carries the baby skin-to-skin, the same way mother kangaroos carry their babies in a pouch. A mother holds her infant skin-to-skin between her breasts, ties a cloth around it and the baby pops the head above the chest like a baby kangaroo.
Experts has stated that KMC has proven to be a powerful method in promoting the health and well being of infants born preterm because of the effective thermal (temperature) control, breastfeeding and bonding between the mother and the newborn.
The health minister noted that babies receiving KMC experience an average shorter stay in hospital compared to conventional care adding that babies have fewer infections and gain weight more quickly.
According the Health Minister, evidence from researchers and scientists indicate that good quality care interventions of low birth weight infants could reduce neonatal mortality in low income countries like Ghana .
He therefore urged all who matter to embrace the new system and contribute to its success.
While acknowledging the support of UNICEF and all the hard working staff and managers of Ghana Health Service for ensuring the introduction of the new system, the Minister urged UNICEF and other development Partners to assist the GHS to have the full complement of equipment and training, particularly in maternal Health care, new born resuscitation and the establishment of neonatal unit towards the attainment of the fourth goal of the millennium development goals.
Dr. Gloria Quansah Asare, Acting Director, Family Health Unit of the GHS who Deputized for the Director General of the GHS said the introduction of the KMC concept is a complimentary to other strategies such as improved ante-natal care intermittent presumptive treatment, bed nets, appropriate nutrition and supplementation, skilled delivery as well as early initiation of breast feeding and stabilization of new borns.
“Although it is likely to reduce the need for long periods of incubator care it does not mean that we will do way with incubators and other technology in our referral facilities,” she assured.
The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs. Agnes Asangalisa Chigabatia disclosed the region has been ranked the best in the country in term of baby friendly facilities adding that the number of baby friendly facilities has increased from 5 in 2006 to 58 in 2007. Again exclusive breast feeding rate went up from 0.5 pet cent in 1998 to 93 per cent in 2007.
She reiterated the call for nursing mothers to embrace the new KMC concept to ensure its success.
The Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. John Koku Awoonor-Williams said the high rates of new born deaths in the northern parts of Ghana were absolutely unacceptable and the introduction of the KMC concept opens a great opportunity for all to avert neonatal deaths even without the luxury of sophisticated technology, which unfortunate is not readily available.