Recently introduced into the Ivorian health system, Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is experiencing significant progress. From one care unit in 2019, there were around fifteen spread across the entire Ivorian territory. Immersion in the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit of the Hospital and University Center (CHU) of Treichville, gateway to this innovative approach for reducing neonatal mortality in Ivory Coast.
Clad in immaculate white and sky blue, the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit announces the colors with a chromatic connotation, the angelic nature of the fragile little beings it shelters. On the steps of the double-leaf entrance door which gives access to the waiting room, stands majestic, dressed all in pink, intellectual glasses enthroned on her face lit up by a sparkling smile, Marie Josée Miézan, Midwife at the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit.
Inside the SMK Unit, a board on the wall displays a series of photographs which immediately informs patients, parents, partners and visitors about the history of the establishment and the medical activities that take place there. Nannies posing proudly next to each other with their babies in their arms, a baby on the scale being examined by a doctor, visiting government authorities, etc. In the residents’ dormitory, the scene is as eloquent as it is striking. Each mother carries her sleeping baby on her chest. The midwife explains.
“The Kangaroo Mother Care Unit is a solution to save the lives of premature newborns and low weight. Here we have a capacity of nine beds. Mothers stay there with their babies throughout their stay, which can last up to two months. See more. We allow the time necessary for the baby to reach the minimum weight of 2 kilograms or 2.5 kilograms. This is achieved through regular monitoring, breastfeeding and the skin-to-skin technique. makes Marie-Josée understand.
The skin-to-skin technique and its advantages
Recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), the “ skin-to-skin technique » is a method that places the mother at the center of caring for her baby.
The “skin-to-skin technique” consists of holding the baby against the mother’s bare chest to combat cooling in the child born prematurely and to encourage breastfeeding. This technique called Kangaroo method is done using a cotton fabric with laces and called Kangaroo loincloth, which the mother ties at the waist leaving a pocket in which the baby is housed. and uses the laces as a belt to support the baby and ensure his safety. The laces are then used as a belt to support the baby and ensure their safety.
A mother and her premature baby rest at the Kangaroo Mothers Unit – Copyright © africanews
ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP
“For the baby, it is a very soothing and reassuring technique. This will allow him to gain confidence, be calmer, cry less and be reassured. Because he is in direct contact, skin to skin, with his mother. And he still hears the beating of his heart that he heard when he was in utero. It is a very determining factor in the well-being of the baby. “, explains Doctor Chantiere Somé, head of the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit.
A breath of fresh air for parents
Kangaroo Mother Care is a breath of fresh air for parents of premature or low-weight babies. A real glimmer of hope which allows us to avoid resorting to the incubator, sometimes a source of stress for the baby, due to the noise around and too much light which constantly disturbs him.
“After her stay in an incubator, my daughter was still struggling to recover despite intensive care and the assistance of nursing staff. When she and her mother joined the care unit, my daughter quickly gained weight. In two weeks, we were already allowed to return home,” testifies Samuel Kouamé.
As for mother Diomandé, who had reservations about the method and its effectiveness, ended up realizing the obvious. Her baby, who was born at 800 grams and was admitted to the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit, came out weighing more than 2 kilograms.
Thanks to this innovative and inexpensive method where “the mother takes over the incubator”almost 4,000 babies were saved according to figures from UNICEF Ivory Coast. Significantly reducing neonatal mortality in Ivory Coast. At the Kangaroo Mother Care Unit at Treichville University Hospital, it actually helped save the life of 99% of premature or low birth weight babies admitted there from 2019 to 2022.
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In Côte d’Ivoire, neonatal mortality, which most often occurs between 0 and 28 days, and which accounts for a third of premature or low birth weight children, has increased from 38 deaths to 30 deaths per 1000 live births in 2022, according to National Mother and Child Health Program (Pnsme). A figure slightly higher than the average for sub-Saharan Africa (27). From 2019 to date, with the support of UNICEF as part of the French Muskoka Fund, 15 Kangaroo Mother Care Units have been set up in the Cocody and Bouaké University Hospitals; in the CHRs of Korhogo, Bondoukou and at the general hospital of Port Bouet. The last one, the National Reference Center for Kangaroo Mother Care, a two-story building with a national and sub-regional vocation, with a capacity of 25 beds and a large training room, was inaugurated on February 29, 2024 for “An Ivory Coast where no woman dies while giving birth and where every person is born in good health, grows and experiences healthy sexuality and reproduction.”
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