On a recent evening, Kenyans watched a heartbroken man on television as he struggled to hold back tears. His wife had just died after giving birth, bleeding uncontrollably in a county hospital. The tragedy, he said, was preventable if only care had come sooner and the system had worked the way it should.
His grief is not an isolated story. Every single day, nearly 20 mothers in Kenya die while giving life. Their deaths ripple through households, leaving behind newborns without mothers, children without caregivers, and families thrown into despair.
The statistics are chilling, Kenya’s maternal mortality ratio stands at 355 deaths per 100,000 live births. That translates into 6,000 mothers lost each year. For newborns, the figures are equally grim as 21 out of every 1,000 do not survive. Behind each number is a name, a family, and a community forever changed.
It is this human cost that brought together leaders, policymakers, doctors, and civil society advocates at a high-level dialogue on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH+N) convened by the Health NGOs Network (HENNET) with support from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) with a rallying cry that no woman should die while giving life.
The Hidden Cracks in the System
Hon. Dr. James Nyikal, chair of Parliament’s Health Committee, says that the urgency of RMNCAH+N reforms lies not only in funding gaps but also in the cracks of a fragile health system.
Dr Nyikal gave examples of funding challenges the health committee found out faced by mothers accessing care under the Social Health Authority (SHA) cover.
He observed that there is a challenge such as empanelment and bed capacities as a major challenge facing claims and payment of facilities with most hospital claims often rejected because the official data would say a facility has fewer beds than it actually does.
“It’s not that the claims are wrong,” he said. “But the system insists this hostel should not have this number of beds. And yet, it clearly does.”
He also said that authorization for admission and procedures in Sha system is also a challenge as doctors face dilemmas when diagnoses evolve for example if a woman admitted with abdominal pain and fever might initially be treated for typhoid, only for tests to later confirm appendicitis. But rigid SHA health information systems reject such changes, flagging them as fraud.
“In medicine, a case evolves,” Nyikal explained. “But the system doesn’t allow you to change. When you go to claim, it rejects it, as if the doctor was lying.”
Dr Nyikal observed that for patients, these technical hurdles translate into delayed treatment, unpaid claims, and eroded trust.
While Nyikal spoke of technical failures, Hon. Dorice Donya Aburi, Kisii County member of parliament focused on moral failures.
Hon Donya revisited the news of the previous day where widower was televised crying after losing his wife while giving birth, saying that what She saw was a reminder that Kenya’s laws are often applied selectively, especially when it comes to protecting women and the vulnerable members of the society.
“Imagine we are discussing deaths which can be preventable,” she told the gathering at the high-level dialogue on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) in Kenya, organized by HENNET.
She added that, “If we want our mothers to live, the law should be the law not something that bends to politics or convenience.”
She also cited cultural practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), which persists despite being outlawed. Increasingly, She noted that FGM is carried out by health workers under the guise of safety. “At the end of the day, you have given them a permanent scar which they will live with forever,” she warned.
Hon Donya said that laws that exist on paper must be enforced without fear or favour. Anything less will continue to cost lives.
The Power of Data
Dr. Susan Mambo of Countdown 2030 said that the path to solutions lies in evidence. She observed that without disaggregated health data broken down by age, gender, and other critical factors Kenya cannot design fair Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) programs or measure progress.
“By 2028, all national, county, and sub-county health data must be disaggregated, reliable, and accessible,” she said. “Only then can communities, CSOs, and policymakers truly hold health systems to account.”
County Voices: Frontline Realities
Baringo County, First Lady Dr. Emmy Chesire Cheboi has seen the difference that local interventions can make in encouraging and promoting skilled birth attendance, male involvement in antenatal care, immunization drives, and mentorship for adolescent girls.
“If I were to prioritize one thing, it would be ensuring that every mother delivers in a facility,” she said. “This single intervention drastically reduces maternal and infant deaths. But for it to happen, facilities must be well-equipped, and services must reach even the most remote communities.”
Dr Chesire said that beyond clinical care, the experience of women in maternity wards matters and encourages them to come to the facilities to give birth. She revealed that She has been giving small gifts to women who deliver in hospitals and the population of skilled birth deliveries and facility-based deliveries improved in Baringo county.
“Sometimes, something as simple as warm water for bathing or a token of appreciation after delivery can encourage women to choose facility-based births.”
Financing Gaps and National Responsibility
Prof. Ane-Beatrice Kihara, President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), said that too many mothers and newborns are still dying of preventable deaths because of financing gaps which leave facilities under-equipped, communities underserved, and counties unable to plan effectively.
Dr. Edward Serem, Head of RMNCAH at the Ministry of Health said that Kenya need resources to drive the agenda of ending maternal and neonatal deaths in Kenya.
Dr. Kireki Omanwa, president of the Kenya Obstetrics and Gynecology Society (KOGS), framed the RMCAH+N issue as a national priority beyond health.
“Improving maternal, child, and adolescent health is not just healthcare it is the foundation of Kenya’s social and economic development” Dr Kireki said.
Dr. Kireki emphasized that most maternal deaths are due to preventable causes such as postpartum hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis, obstructed labor, and unsafe abortions.
“Maternal deaths from the five causes are not just statistics,” he said. “They are our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. No woman should lose her life while giving life. Together government, health professionals, NGOs, and communities we can and must change this story.”
From Policy to Practice
Kenya already has robust policies on maternal health, however the challenge, as Lisa Mushega Hennet legal officer reminded participants saying that the problem lies in policy implementation.
“The challenge is not in drafting policies but in making them work for women, for children, for families,” she said. “Ending preventable maternal deaths by 2030 is bold but achievable. Every mother counts. Every child counts.”
A Shared Responsibility
The reproductive health experts said that preventable deaths are not inevitable and RMCAH+N deaths are result of systemic failures, underfunding, and weak enforcement.
“Women, we are good at making noise,” Hon. Aburi said. “But it should not take watching the evening news and seeing a woman die from excessive bleeding for us to make noise.”
Kenya now faces a defining choice of whether to let more families suffer the heartbreak of preventable loss, or to build a health system that honors the sanctity of life.
