Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital celebrates KMC Awareness Day

As part of activities to mark this year’s International Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) Awareness Day, the Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital has organised series of events to create awareness of its importance and educate parents, especially women, on how to practise KMC.

The activities were inter-school debate, radio talk show, drama, series of public campaigns and demonstrations at selected places.

May 15 marked the International KMC Awareness Day.

The KMC refers to the practice of providing continuous skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, exclusive breastfeeding and early discharge from hospital. It is an especially important intervention for babies that are born premature.

Exclusive breastfeeding

At a ceremony to celebrate the KMC method at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Brong-Ahafo Region, a Paediatrician at the Ansuaa Ababio Paediatric Centre (AAPC) of the Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital, Dr Adoma Dwomo-Fokuo, said the practice of the KMC had helped to increase exclusive breastfeeding and improve maternal satisfaction and confidence.

She charged mothers to adopt the KMC method to help their children grow healthy and also save them from contracting infectious diseases.

According to her, the KMC strategy had proved successful in improving the survival rates of premature and low birth weight newborns, in addition to lowering the risks of nosocomial infection, severe illness and lower respiratory tract disease.

Dr Dwomo-Fokuo advised lactating mothers to practise exclusive breastfeeding, explaining that breast milk was rich in nutrients and anti-bodies and contained the right quantities of fat, sugar, water and protein needed for the newborns to survive, grow and develop properly.

No side effects

For her part, a House Officer at the centre, Dr Opokua Asare-Minta, explained that the practice had no side effects but rather helped in improving the growth of the newborn baby, and appealed to fathers and other family members to encourage and support mothers to practise it.

According to Dr Asare-Minta, the KMC method was not only practised in Ghana but also in other countries.