Minet Kenya has launched a maternity assistance program dubbed “Blooming moms” which is aimed at creating awareness on pregnancy and childcare related matters.
According to Minet, the transition from pregnancy to motherhood should be a period of joy, however, most women are faced with bouts of disappointment, frustration, fear and worry due to the inadequacy of information about motherhood. To counter this, the programme aims to address psychological well-being of the expectant mother, childbirth preparation classes and build confidence for a mothers’ ability to deliver and nurture their children.
The programme will continue post birth to ensure that the transition is fully ingrained and prevent them battling between who they were before motherhood and who they think they should be after delivery. This will avoid the new mothers from falling into Postpartum depression which is still a taboo subject in our society and is inadequately addressed though it affects 10 to 15 percent of mothers and leaves most women struggling with the transition to motherhood.
According to Postpartum International, it is estimated that one in seven women suffer postpartum depression (PPD) in their lifetime. In Kenya, approximately 200,000 women are predisposed to PPD. Minet has incorporated health talks around the psychological well-being of mothers to provide health information to women helping them improve their mental, emotional and physical wellness.