Kisumu County Government is offering stipends to traditional birth attendants who refer their clients to a hospital facility. The County Director of Health Ojwang Lusi said the move is aimed at reducing cases of maternal and child mortality within the county. Lusi said traditional birth attendants lack the requisite knowledge on how to deliver a baby safely thus leading to the rise in mortality rate. “These traditional birth attendants put the lives of our mothers and children at risk and as a county we must devise a method to deal with that challenge,” he said. He said the traditional birth attendants are being paid Sh 200 for every referral of a pregnant mother to the hospital for delivery. Lusi said some women prefer traditional birth attendants and that is the only way to lure them to a hospital facility. He said the county has developed a community strategy approach to health care where a community is connected to a health care. Speaking in Kisumu, Lusi said they have trained community health workers who are spread across the country to monitor the health care of the community and offer service. “We have managed to incorporate the TBAs in the community health workers so that they don’t feel left out in the fight to reduce mortality cases,” he intimated. Lusi said the community health workers are remunerated to ensure they perform their duties diligently and give proper health data to the county.

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