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"id": 1423548,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1423548/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy, Speaker, Sir. I thank the Mover for coming up with this Bill. This Bill is very important. It deals with maternal, meaning the mother, then newborn, meaning a child who has successfully been born, and the child's health to mean the growth of a child. Bear in mind that a child is up to 18 years of age. Makueni County pioneered this, although it was not in any written law. Professor Kibwana, together with his cabinet, came up with a maternal mother-child hospital. It was done very reasonably, very clean, and not far from the Level 5 Hospital in Makueni headquarters, Wote. The then First Lady, Mrs. Uhuru Kenyatta, opened this hospital. She came all the way personally to Wote. She was very particular about newborn children. I was invited as a local Member of Parliament (MP). In my speech at that opening ceremony, I said that water was very important. The supply of water to every home and the supply of water to the hospitals. The supply of clean water does away with half of possible diseases. If we have clean water everywhere in the country, including in every home, school, and hospital, then we would have very few people going to the hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic when we were doing sanitisation and washing our hands, other than a few COVID-19 patients, there were hardly any patients in the hospital. This shows that cleanliness goes a long way in fighting diseases. One of the biggest afflictions of a newborn baby is disease. If there are disease outbreaks, they will affect children in a worse scenario. As Sen. Omtatah has contributed, the best policy for any government is the budget. If you have a sufficient budget, make sure that we have enough water. Just like the way we had a lot of rain, if we had stored enough clean water, then we will be sorting out the health situation. The worst case scenario is when a newborn baby is born or a child is growing up, and there are health conditions that affect the child very adversely. Therefore, the provision of clean water and a clean environment is very key for the growth and success of children. For there to be a healthy child, they have to be born to a healthy mother. Therefore, the medical condition or the health status of a mother is very important, be it stress, disease, or any other disturbance when a mother is expecting or plans to expect goes a long way into how the child will be. Even when a mother is expecting, there has to be enough information and knowledge on how best to take care of their unborn baby. Children are affected by the abuse of drugs before they are born, by the presence of disease or by the stress of the mother. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}