Kenya turns to AI to improve maternal, newborn care
Kenya’s maternal mortality ratio stands at 355 deaths per 100,000 live births, translating to thousands of women dying each year from pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications
What you need to know:
- The system will give health officials a centralised dashboard to monitor key performance indicators such as antenatal care uptake, skilled delivery rates, and maternal and newborn fatalities, without relying on manual compilation and submissions from disparate facilities.
Kenya is planning to deploy an artificial intelligence–driven platform to aggregate data on pregnant women, mothers, and newborns, enabling health officials to track care delivery more effectively and detect potential issues earlier.
According to disclosures from the Digital Health Agency (DHA), the platform will unify Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) data currently scattered across various hospital systems, community health records, and reporting platforms. It will cover a comprehensive range of services, including antenatal care, childbirth, postnatal care, immunisation, family planning, and maternal death reporting.
In a tender notice for the procurement of the AI-driven digital health platform, the DHA noted that existing facility electronic medical record (EMR) systems, donor reporting processes, and community communication channels operate largely in isolation. This fragmentation limits real-time visibility for the DHA and its stakeholders, such as the
Social Health Authority (SHA) and Kemsa. To address this, the DHA intends to commission a single platform focused on three RMNCAH priorities: aggregating facility-level data and providing clinical decision support; coordinating inbound and outbound care for beneficiaries; and directly engaging beneficiaries through a conversational digital channel.
The system will give health officials a centralised dashboard to monitor key performance indicators such as antenatal care uptake, skilled delivery rates, and maternal and newborn fatalities, without relying on manual compilation and submissions from disparate facilities.
For healthcare providers, the platform will streamline documentation during consultations by reducing paperwork, while simultaneously offering on-demand access to clinical guidance for managing various conditions.
Furthermore, the DHA plans to leverage death-related data to pinpoint recurring issues tied to specific hospitals, particular medicines, or individual healthcare professionals. This feature is expected to prompt earlier investigations and enable authorities to implement corrective actions, ultimately helping to prevent similar fatalities in the future.
The system will also track patients referred for specialist care, including those treated abroad, by consolidating data on referrals, travel, treatment, payments, and follow-ups in one place. This unified record will make it easier to verify whether patients receive the care they need.
The RMNCAH strategy has shifted from fragmented programmes targeting specific life stages toward an integrated approach that covers women and children across the full continuum of care. Despite this progress, preventable maternal and newborn deaths persist, driven by gaps in both the quality and timeliness of care.
Kenya’s maternal mortality ratio stands at 355 deaths per 100,000 live births, translating to thousands of women dying each year from pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications. The primary causes include postpartum haemorrhage, obstructed labour, and eclampsia.
Although the share of women delivering with a skilled attendant rose from 62 per cent in 2014 to 89 percent in 2022, substandard care and delays in recognising complications continue to fuel preventable fatalities.
Through TaifaCare, which will include a planned WhatsApp channel, patients and families can engage directly with the new platform. The service will deliver tailored information to women during pregnancy and to parents about child immunisation, while also enabling users to submit feedback and report health concerns.
