The Story of Baby Joy
How UNICEF and China cooperate to help premature newborns survive in Kenya
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Kapenguria, Kenya - When Fridah Chepyatich gave birth to her daughter Joy at just six months, she feared the worst. In the remote region of West Pokot, Kenya, on the border with Uganda, the chances of survival for a baby born so prematurely were slim. Fridah’s tiny, fragile daughter was struggling for breath, her life was hanging in the balance.
“She was put in an incubator for two weeks. Baby Joy was lucky that the hospital had this machine that saved her life,” Fridah recalls with a happy smile.
This life-saving equipment was part of a larger effort by UNICEF, supported by China, to improve maternal, newborn, and child health in Kenya and other African countries. “One of the pieces of equipment we received from UNICEF was a C-PAP machine,” Dr. Emmaculate Lukela, a Paediatrician and Child Health Specialist at the Kapenguria County Hospital explains. “These ‘Continuous Positive Airway Pressure’ (C-PAP) machines are especially helpful for pre-term babies, who are born with immature lungs. The machine ensures that the lungs of these babies remain open and that they receive enough oxygen.”
“When these children not only survive but thrive, it gives us so much pleasure. We are very happy that our center is able to handle these high-risk babies, safely deliver them, and release them home,” the doctor adds.
“Once this equipment was received, the health workers were trained to manage low oxygen in newborns or other children,“ UNICEF Kenya Health Specialist, Dr. Laura Oyiengo, says. “As a result, we saw fewer and fewer children developing complications from respiratory infections or conditions.”
Kenya managed to cut under-five mortality by more than half from 102 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 43 in 2019. However, more than 60,000 children still die each year before reaching five years of age. Three quarters of these deaths occur before a child’s first birthday. Preventable causes like diarrhea, pneumonia, and neonatal complications remain the leading killers.
UNICEF has been cooperating with the Government of China in eight African countries to improve maternal, newborn and child health. With the support from China’s Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF), UNICEF has been able to rehabilitate health centres and maternity wards and to provide life-saving supplies, equipment and technical training for health workers in D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Zimbabwe as well as in Kenya.
In the East African country, China supported UNICEF’s health programme with $1 million, benefitting 159 health facilities in eight counties, including in West Pokot’s capital Kapenguira and improving mothers’ access to quality health services as well as essential medicines and treatment for themselves and their newborns.
Sae-Ryo Kim, Chief of Public Partnerships at UNICEF China, highlights the importance of this partnership: “China has made remarkable progress in children’s issues over the last four decades. It can now support other countries in their development. That is why UNICEF and the Government of China are working together to support children in more than 20 countries around the world.”
This cooperation which focuses on the exchange of knowledge, solutions, know-how and resources has become even more urgent and relevant as many developing countries struggle to accelerate their progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the Agenda 2030 and its promise to leave no one, including no child, behind.
Through its South-South Cooperation, China has also been supporting UNICEF’s emergency response in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe when Cyclone Idai struck the three countries in March 2019, leaving more than 2 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance, half of them children. China also supported UNICEF’s humanitarian work in other African countries such as Liberia where UNICEF was able to treat 12,000 malnourished children with ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF).
The impact of this collaboration is evident in Joy’s story.
“Joy is three years old now, and we are looking forward to her joining school next year. We can see a bright future for her,” Fridah says.
With continued support, many more children like Joy will have the chance not just to survive, but to thrive and grow to their full potential.
