JijiHealth

24/12/2025

🩸 Blood Saves Mothers. Blood Saves Newborns. 🩸

Every day in Kenya, mothers and newborns lose their lives from causes that are largely preventable. In Nairobi County, one of the most critical and often overlooked gaps is the availability of safe blood, especially for managing obstetric emergencies such as postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death.

Across Nairobi’s informal settlements, delays in accessing blood for transfusion continue to cost lives. Even when women reach health facilities on time and skilled providers are available, blood shortages remain a major barrier to saving mothers and newborns.

Through the Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) Collaborative Initiative, UNFPA, together with White Ribbon Alliance Kenya and private sector partners, is strengthening public–private collaboration in Nairobi County to close these gaps. Blood drives are not just events—they are life-saving interventions that directly address critical delays in maternal and newborn care.

This blood drive contributes to:

✔️ Saving mothers experiencing obstetric haemorrhage
✔️ Supporting safe surgeries and emergency newborn care
✔️ Strengthening health system readiness in Nairobi County
✔️ Demonstrating the power of private sector engagement in RMNCAH

💡 When systems collaborate, lives are saved.
🩸 Donate blood. Support mothers. Protect newborns.

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19/12/2025

Modern Blood Services Training: Lessons from the Damu Sasa Experience

Reliable blood services are critical to saving lives - especially for mothers and newborns facing obstetric and neonatal emergencies. During the Modern Blood Services Training, our experience using the Damu Sasa solution highlighted the value of digital platforms in strengthening blood availability, coordination, and response.

Damu-Sasa provides real-time visibility of blood stocks, improves communication between facilities and blood banks, and supports faster, data-driven decision-making - reducing delays when every minute counts.

This training was part of a broader collaborative effort to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes, led by UNFPA KenyaUNFPA in partnership with White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, M-PESA Foundation, PharmAccess Kenya, Jacaranda Health, and AbbVie Ferring Pharmaceuticals, working closely with county health systems.

The experience reinforced an important lesson: strengthening blood services is not only about supply - it is about systems, partnerships, and smart use of technology. By equipping healthcare workers with practical digital tools like Damu Sasa, we are strengthening frontline response and protecting lives.

Modern blood systems save lives. Strong partnerships make them possible.

18/12/2025

Day1: Strengthening Maternal and Newborn Health Through Modern Blood Services Training in Nairobi County

Reliable and safe blood services are a cornerstone of effective maternal and newborn healthcare. From managing postpartum hemorrhage to supporting neonatal emergencies, timely access to blood can be lifesaving.

In Nairobi County, Modern Blood Services Training is strengthening the capacity of healthcare workers with practical skills in blood safety, demand forecasting, proper storage, transfusion practices, and referral coordination. These competencies are critical for ensuring uninterrupted blood availability, particularly in high-volume facilities.

This training is part of a broader collaborative effort to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes, led by UNFPA Kenya in partnership with The White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, M-PESA Foundation, PharmAccess Kenya, Jacaranda Health, and AbbVie Ferring Pharmaceuticals, working closely with Nairobi County health teams.

By strengthening technical capacity and coordination around blood services, we are addressing a critical health system gap and safeguarding the lives of mothers and newborns.

Strong blood systems save lives. Strong partnerships make them possible.

17/12/2025

Day 1 | Strengthening Maternal & Newborn Health Through Action

🩸 Access to safe blood saves lives—especially for mothers and newborns.

On Day 1, our activities in Nairobi CBD focused on strengthening blood availability as a critical component of emergency obstetric and neonatal care. With postpartum hemorrhage remaining a leading cause of maternal deaths in Kenya, timely access to blood is lifesaving.

This blood drive is part of a broader collaborative effort to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes, led by UNFPA in partnership with White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, M-PESA Foundation, PharmAccess Kenya, Jacaranda Health, and AbbVie Ferring Pharmaceuticals, working closely with county health systems.

Together, we are addressing system gaps that put mothers and newborns at risk—through coordination, partnership, and action.

16/12/2025

16/12/2025

Day Two Reflections: Why Strong Back-End Systems Matter in Health Service Delivery

Health outcomes are shaped not only at the point of care, but also by the systems that support health workers behind the scenes. One such system—often invisible but deeply consequential—is claims management.

In Nairobi County, efficient claims processes play a vital role in keeping facilities operational, partners aligned, and essential services running smoothly. Delays or gaps in claims submission and reimbursement can translate into strained resources, interrupted services, and reduced morale among frontline teams.

By working alongside partners such as UNFPA, White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, M-PESA Foundation, PharmAccess Kenya, Jacaranda Health, and AbbVie Ferring Pharmaceuticals, there is an opportunity to strengthen coordination, standardize processes, and reinforce accountability across the health ecosystem.

Improved claims management contributes to:

Better planning and resource allocation at facility and county levels

Stronger partnerships built on trust and predictability

Continuity of critical services, including maternal, newborn, laboratory, and blood services

Health system strengthening is as much about process as it is about policy. When financial and administrative systems function efficiently, health workers can focus on what matters most—delivering quality care.

Strong systems enable strong services.

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15/12/2025

Day 2 | Strengthening Modern Blood Services through Skills & Systems in Narok.

Day Two of our Narok maternal and newborn health initiative focused on training laboratory technologists and phlebotomists on modern blood services practices, alongside continued blood donation efforts.

Building on the successful blood drives at Maasai Mara University, the blood collected will directly support mothers and newborns during critical obstetric emergencies. Equally important, the training strengthened frontline capacity - ensuring blood is safely collected, tested, stored, and made available when it is most needed.

Through our partnership with UNFPA, White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, M-PESA Foundation, PharmAccess, Jacaranda Health, and AbbVie Ferring Pharmaceuticals, we are investing in both people and systems - so no woman loses her life due to a preventable blood shortage.

This work underscores that saving lives is not only about supply, but also about skills, standards, and strong partnerships.

Together, we are protecting mothers and babies.

10/12/2025

Day One in Narok County: Strengthening the Systems that Save Mothers and Newborns

Today marked the start of our training on medical claims management in Narok County - a critical step in strengthening maternal and newborn health services.

When health facilities are equipped to accurately process and submit medical claims, they unlock timely reimbursements that can be reinvested into emergency obstetric care, newborn services, essential medicines, equipment, and reliable access to blood. This directly improves the quality and responsiveness of care for mothers and newborns.

This training is part of a collaborative effort with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, M-PESA Foundation, PharmAccess Kenya, Jacaranda Health, AbbVie, and Ferring Pharmaceuticals to reduce preventable maternal and newborn deaths and strengthen health system sustainability.

Stronger systems. Faster care. Safer births.

09/12/2025

14/11/2025

We will be presenting an abstract on our Hospital Management Information System, Rafiki360, at the University of Nairobi & Kenyatta National Hospital International Conference on Health (ICH 2025)!

Our abstract, titled “Rafiki360: A Local, Scalable, Patient-Centered Hospital Management Information System Enhancing Health Outcomes in Kenya,” showcases how locally developed digital solutions can transform healthcare delivery - especially in resource-constrained facilities.

What makes Rafiki360 special:

- Affordable pay-per-patient-visit model, removing upfront digitization costs

- Simplifies hospital workflows and improves billing accuracy

- Provides easy access to patient data for better clinical decision-making

- Designed for scalable, sustainable adoption across Kenyan health facilities

We are proud to share our work with health leaders, innovators, and policymakers at ICH 2025 as we continue to co-create affordable and scalable digital health solutions for Kenya and beyond.

Learn more about Rafiki360 here: https://youtu.be/X1ib8jVgHqI

28/10/2025

08/09/2025