Happy mothers

In Kenya it is not common for most new mothers to pump with a breast pump. A hand pump quickly costs 20% of a monthly salary. In order to ensure good health and well-being for our employees, Florensis Kenya completed a project in January for its female employees. In line with the requirements of the Kenyan Health Act we constructed a personalized lactation room, enabling access to all resources and information required for breastfeeding for up to at least 9 months.

Takeaway milk

The room is well furnished and strategically located to guarantee privacy for its users. Florensis Kenya provides breast pumps (manual and electronic), sterilizing equipment, milk storage and feeding equipment. In the absence of refrigerators at home for many employees, the ladies can use our cool boxes with ice packs to take the milk home. We also allocated time of up to an hour per day for each new mother who requires expressing milk while at work.

Career mothers for Breastfeeding

 To support this initiative we partnered with a local non-profit organization; CAMFEB (Career mothers for Breastfeeding) who offered professional assistance in developing a policy and information materials on the use of the facility. Via scheduled quarterly trainings expectant and lactating employees are informed about the importance of breastfeeding, means of improving maternal and infant health as well as optimizing family planning options.

Results

Starting in March 2020, there were four ladies using the facility. These beneficiaries have demonstrated confidence and conversance, evidenced by their higher levels of productivity, discipline and peer support, which enables us to implement the program more efficiently.

In addition, we have introduced a convenience package which includes caps and rompers for new born babies and a maternity bag as gift for the mother. To supplement the gifts, Florensis has partnered with Jacaranda health to provide SMS-based health messages to this group of employees, in order to provide information and medical referrals on health challenges that may arise during their pregnancies and lactation periods.

Promoting health

It is our hope that by equipping our employees with the information and tools to support them during these critical stages of their lives, we will reduce child mortality rates and promote the health and well being of our female employees and their infants.