Saving Kitui’s Tiniest Lives: Inside the New Neonatal Care Unit with Nurse Irene

Nurse Irene gently cradles one of her little patients at the neonatal care unit located at Kitui County Referral Hospital. (Billy Mutai for CMMB)

Inside the new Little Angel’s Newborn Unit at the Kitui County Referral Hospital, Nurse in Charge Irene runs a tight ship. There is no other option when every month, her unit sees anywhere between 60 to 80 newborns fighting serious infections or slowly gaining strength after being born too soon. They are all under her staff’s careful care.

Despite the intense day-to-day operations that ensure efficiency and the challenges that come with caring for the most fragile newborns, a calming energy takes over the unit. Staff gently tend to their tiny patients, and mothers, though worried, have a clean and safe environment to bond with their healing newborns.

Nurse Irene tends to a neonatal infant growing strong in one of the unit’s incubators. (Billy Mutai for CMMB)

The unit is divided into a series of rooms lining the outer walls. They are organized to group patients based on medical needs, minimizing the threat of infections and supporting the individualized care critical for a newborn’s recovery. CPAP machines support respiratory treatment for babies who need help breathing. There is even a room dedicated entirely to Kangaroo Mother Care, a method that uses skin-to-skin contact with a mother to help regulate her pre-term baby’s temperature.

The tiles lining the unit’s floor feature swirls of white and gray. The shapes coincidentally remind Irene’s team of a pregnant woman’s belly, which, she tells us, is just another small reminder of why they show up to work each day—to save lives. Since opening the Neonatal Care Unit in August 2024, Irene and her staff have provided lifesaving care to over 600 newborns.

The likelihood of survival for neonates at the Kitui County Referral Hospital has increased dramatically with the construction of this dedicated unit. Sadly, not long ago, survival was not always the case.

The old unit was always overcrowded. A single room designed to care for only 25 infants commonly averaged 40 at a time. The room’s limited space was compounded by limited resources, and staff were forced to share cots and incubators among seven or eight newborns at a time. The risk of infection was high, and the chance of survival was far lower than it is today.

Shalin smiles down at her healthy baby boy Daylan, who was visiting the referral hospital for a check-up. Shalin was in a serious accident while pregnant with Dylan and underwent an emergency C-section as a result. Daylan was cared for in the facility’s new neonatal unit until he was healthy enough to go home. (Roy Mwangi for CMMB)

Irene and her staff are grateful that those days are behind them—but it doesn’t mean that challenges do not still exist today. Resources, though much better, are still slim at times. Babies receiving the same kind of care share incubators when capacity is high. While death rates have fallen at the new unit, across the county, the neonatal mortality rate remains unacceptable at 24 deaths per 1,000 births, and asphyxia and neonatal infections remain the leading threats to survival.

CMMB and the Kitui County Government remain committed to expanding access to critical neonatal care across the county. This neonatal unit is among three others that were constructed or renovated by CMMB and partners across the county with the same goal: to deliver hope, healing, and healthy starts.

World Health Worker Week: Celebrating the Heart of the Little Angel’s Newborn Unit

CMMB is committed to supporting better neonatal care outcomes in Kitui County. But we can’t do it alone. Health workers are at the heart of our mission and the Little Angel’s Newborn Unit. Thank you to Nurse Irene and her dedicated staff. You are saving lives.

Join us this World Health Worker Week to elevate the voices of health workers—their stories illustrate the true impact of your support.