16 women die every day: Kenya declares war on maternal mortality
President William Ruto, and First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto flag off lorries with new acquired equipment during launch of the 'Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere Acceleration Plan' at State House Nairobi on May 28.
What you need to know:
- Twenty-six counties have been identified as high-burden areas for maternal and newborn mortality: Garissa, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kisii, Kitui, Nairobi, Machakos, Nakuru, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Homa Bay, Kwale, Siaya, Kilifi, Kakamega, Kajiado, Uasin Gishu, Meru, Samburu, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Tana River, Turkana, Mandera, and Wajir.
Lavender Achieng was heavily pregnant and desperate for money. She worked as a domestic cleaner in Kayole, Nairobi, taking jobs from clients who needed their clothes washed. She knew she should rest. Her body was telling her to stop, but her family needed to eat.
One day, bent over a washbasin, Lavender felt something give way inside her. Blood began to flow. She bled and bled. By the time she reached the hospital, she had lost so much blood that her body could no longer sustain the pregnancy.
“I lost my baby,” Lavender said, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face during the official launch of the ‘Every Woman, Every Newborn, Everywhere (EWENE)’ initiative at State House on May 28.
“I lacked urgent medical intervention.”
Her story was meant to illustrate why the government had just announced a massive new maternal health programme.
But for President William Ruto, sitting in the audience next to First Lady Rachel Ruto, Lavender’s story was more than an illustration. It was a mirror reflecting his own family’s private tragedy.
“Mama Rachel and I lost our firstborn son,” President Ruto said, his voice steady but his eyes revealing a wound that had never fully healed. “We live with this reality every day.”
This is the situation unfolding across the country every day. In Kenya, 16 women die daily from preventable childbirth complications. Dr Ruto said: “I know this pain. I live it. And I cannot let other families live it too.”
The President explained how the realisation truly hit him. He was travelling outside Kenya when a woman approached him with a simple, devastating statement: “Mr President, so many women are dying in Kenya due to childbirth, and this is alarming.”
That conversation became a turning point, not because the President didn’t already know the statistics. Kenya’s maternal mortality rate is 355 deaths for every 100,000 live births, a figure that translates to approximately 6,000 preventable deaths every year. Sixteen women. Every single day.
“That was a wake-up call for me,” Dr Ruto said. “Something needed to be done moving forward.”
On May 28, the government launched the EWENE acceleration plan for 2026–2028, a national roadmap aimed at reducing preventable maternal and newborn deaths across Kenya in partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the UN Population Fund.
“We must cut down the number of maternal deaths by half. And we must drive it to the point where we account for every mother,” said the President.
He said the country must account for every mother, not just reduce deaths, not just improve statistics, but know, by name and by circumstance, every single woman who dies. Make that death matter. Ensure it is investigated, learned from, and prevented.
According to the Ministry of Health, maternal mortality in Kenya claims approximately 16 women every day, with postpartum hemorrhage (PPH)—severe bleeding after childbirth—as the leading cause of death, accounting for 40 per cent of maternal deaths. Other major causes include high blood pressure during pregnancy, infections, unsafe abortions, and delays in accessing emergency medical care, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
Also read: They delivered healthy babies. A few hours later, the mothers were dead. Hospitals had no blood
Twenty-six counties have been identified as high-burden areas for maternal and newborn mortality: Garissa, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kisii, Kitui, Nairobi, Machakos, Nakuru, Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Homa Bay, Kwale, Siaya, Kilifi, Kakamega, Kajiado, Uasin Gishu, Meru, Samburu, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Tana River, Turkana, Mandera, and Wajir.
These are the counties where, if EWENE works, lives will be saved. These are the places where Lavender’s story plays out again and again.
The government has allocated an additional Sh4 billion to the Social Health Authority (SHA) to cover healthcare premiums for pregnant women. This means a woman like Lavender will not be turned away because she cannot pay. She will walk into a health facility and deliver, with SHA covering the costs between Sh10,000 and Sh12,000.
The government has committed to recruiting 5,000 nurses and midwives to strengthen frontline healthcare services, addressing one of Kenya's critical gaps in maternal care provision.
A six-month Maternal and Newborn Health Rapid Results Initiative will run until November, focusing on improving emergency maternal care, increasing skilled birth attendance, and strengthening healthcare systems at both national and county levels.
Equipment will be flagged off to 630 health facilities across the 20 highest-burden counties, including maternity theatres, neonatal ICU equipment, oxygen concentrators, phototherapy lights, bilirubinometers, and blood transfusion units.
Lawrence Omondi, founder of the Machozi ya Mwisho (Tears of the Last) Initiative, understood this intimately. He started his organisation after losing his first child. Then he lost twins. He watched as other men in his community lost their wives during childbirth and had no outlet for their grief, bottling up pain that became detrimental to their own mental and physical health.
“Many men were losing their wives during childbirth,” Omondi said. “And the burden often fell on them.”
The EWENE programme acknowledges that maternal death is not just a woman's tragedy. It is a family tragedy. It is a community tragedy. It is a national tragedy.
Kenya now joins 40 other countries across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in implementing EWENE. But implementation is where commitment becomes real, or falls apart.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said: “Most maternal deaths are preventable. The challenge before us is not a lack of knowledge of what works, but ensuring that the right interventions reach every mother.”
The Ministry of Health is focusing on skilled health workers, emergency obstetrics and newborn care, functional referral systems, blood services, and uninterrupted supply of life-saving commodities. Digital health systems, workforce training, and accountability measures will be used to track progress.
But the real test will come when a woman like Lavender, desperate for money, carrying a pregnancy, and needing to work walks into a health facility. Will the facility have the staff? Will the blood bank be stocked? Will the operating theatre be available? Will SHA pay immediately?
