The encounter with Francis Odhiambo, the provincial public health officer Western Province Kenya had a great impact in helping connect the dots between having safe drinking water, combating diseases and women having safe delivery. Mr. Francis Odhiambo believed strongly that women suffer twice as men on health related issues relating to water borne disease because of their daily nurturing and caring activities for their children and husbands. Women not only face the hardship of looking for nonexistent safe water but they also have to trek miles to get stream water and firewood for boiling it. In his words during the interaction between the two women bloggers deliver winners, Women Deliver and Vestergaard Staff, Mr. Odhiambo explained that public health intervention by Vestergaard Frandsen and Women Deliver would go a long way in supporting the already stretched government health facilities in the Western Province.

That was not all the findings that were there. The visit to Emusanda Health Centre brought to light many other concerns in relation to maternal health. In our interaction with James Okwiri who has being living with HIV for the past 7 years, he and other people living with HIV especially women in Emusanda Community, the Emusanda Health Centre built by Vestergaard Frandsen has being very useful and had saved many of them from too much hassle of getting to the city thereby looking for money they do not have for transportation and feeding to go back and forth for treatment. Not only do they find the treatments at the health centre life-saving, they also consider the plan by Women Deliver and Vestergaard Frandsen to build a maternity Ward at Emusanda a much needed intervention. Emusanda Health Centre as mentioned by lab. scientist Ms. Evelyn Wekesa has adequate facilities to test for malaria, typhoid, HIV and many other ailments. The tests assist in early detection of many curable disease and early treatments.

The overarching issue on maternal and child mortality has had its effect on this community as attested to by Ms. Sinafu Mapesa who explained the danger of home delivery and how these has claimed lives of women. She was lucky to have her bleeding stop when she delivered her baby but many other women were never that lucky, she is joyful that there will be a maternity ward in her community to attend to pregnant women most especially women living with HIV/AIDS. Ms. Brenda Opika who has an 11 year old HIV positive child, shared her pain of not getting tested for HIV when she was pregnant as that would have assisted her in delivering her child through caesarian section thereby providing a very high chance of not infecting her child. She believes in Emusanda Health Centre and the additional Maternity ward proposed. She is ready to volunteer at the maternity ward to assist pregnant women that might be living with HIV. Ms. Pelista Chibole gave an insight on the need for a 24 hours running maternity centre with skilled health workers, for safe delivery of pregnant women as well as other necessary counseling for family planning.

According to Women Deliver fact sheet, only 44% of women in Kenya deliver with skilled birth attendants and the maternal mortality ratio is 560 deaths per 100,000 live births. The interactions and visitations with the authority on public health issues and people of Kakamega nullified any doubt I may have about the accuracy of this statistics. To attain the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5; Reducing Child Mortality Rates and Improving Maternal Health especially with so many preventable cases, initiatives such as Women Deliver’s and Vestergaard Frandsen’s will be a round peg in a round hole for the people of Emusanda in Western Province Kenya.