Push to end abuse of women in maternity wards
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba at at past event. She has introduced a motion in the National Assembly aimed at ensuring that women receive dignified care during childbirth.
What you need to know:
- Many women across Kenya report facing abuse and mistreatment during childbirth in hospitals.
In October 2019, Lilian* arrived at a local hospital in Naivasha, Nakuru County ready to deliver her first child.
She had been in labour for many hours, and she thus anticipated prompt care from health workers.
Instead, she experienced what she describes as abandonment. “I was left in the waiting room without any check-up and had to wait until the night shift nurse arrived,” she says.
At night, she says she was examined only once and by morning, as she felt the need to push, her call for help was answered by interns, who kept shouting at her.
Hours later, an exhausted Lilian struggled to give birth. She recalls how doctors performed an episiotomy - a surgical incision made in the perineum, the tissue between the vagina and anus, to widen the vaginal opening for childbirth - without an explanation.
Her baby was born after nearly 24 hours of labour and did not cry at birth.
Cerebral palsy
Later, the child was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
“I have a fresh memory of what transpired that day. They kept me in the waiting room without any check-up until the night shift workers came. I screamed out of helplessness and pain, but nobody cared.
“A couple of hours later when doctors came back, l was worn out. l could not push anymore. The doctors cut my genitalia (episiotomy) without any explanation and l gave birth 24 hours after my admission," she explains.
In a similar incident in 2022, Beatrice* gave birth to her first child in a hospital in Makueni. The 27-year-old mother recalls how nurses repeatedly beat her up as she laboured, forcing her to push without compassion.
Tragically, she lost her baby.
Mary* also recalls the abuse she experienced during her second pregnancy. After a grueling 14 hours of labour filled with verbal and physical assaults, her baby boy was born but died two days later from perinatal asphyxia - a condition in which a baby does not receive enough oxygen before, during, or directly after birth.
Mary, Beatrice and Lilian’s stories are not isolated.
Many women across Kenya report facing abuse and mistreatment during childbirth in hospitals, where they should receive care and protection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes mistreatment in the context of maternity care as the absence of respectful and considerate treatment, or the failure to provide care that upholds a woman’s dignity, safeguards her privacy and confidentiality, guarantees her safety from harm or ill-treatment and facilitates her ability to make informed choices, all while ensuring uninterrupted support throughout the labour and childbirth process.
In response to the mistreatment of expectant mothers, Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba has introduced a motion in the National Assembly aimed at ensuring that women receive dignified care during childbirth.
She contends that respectful treatment during pregnancy and childbirth is a basic human right and a constitutional guarantee.
"Women still experience violence in health facilities before and after giving birth. There has been an increase in pre- and postpartum mistreatment and dehumanised care of women (obstetric violence) by healthcare providers in the country,” Ms Wamuchomba said.
The legislator’s motion calls for the establishment of a national policy to combat obstetric violence, defined as disrespectful and abusive behaviour, physical and verbal abuse, neglect, forced medical procedures, humiliation, and assault in healthcare settings.
She argued that such violence, especially against women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, significantly contributes to high maternal mortality rates.
"Class-based disparities shape different maternal and infant health outcomes, with women of low socioeconomic status mostly experiencing greater levels of obstetric violence," she noted.
The motion seeks the development of a policy by the Ministry of Health to prevent obstetric violence and establish a framework for regular monitoring and reporting of such cases in Kenyan healthcare facilities. Ms Wamuchomba believes that criminalising obstetric violence will provide a legal foundation to hold health workers accountable for mistreatment during and after childbirth.
“Every woman, regardless of her social or economic status, deserves a dignified and respectful childbirth experience, free from any form of violence or abuse. The time has come for us to undo the injustices suffered by women under obstetric violence in Kenya.”
The MP highlighted how the vice often goes unaddressed despite its widespread occurrence. She argued that societal norms have allowed this behaviour to persist unchallenged.
“Our women are treated as if they don’t know anything and should only take instructions from those attending to them. We don’t talk about it, yet it is wrong,” she added.
The MP’s proposal emphasises the need for dignity in childbirth, advocating for a compassionate approach in maternity wards.
"Concerned about the levels of obstetric violence; further concerned that this not only affects women’s physical and mental health but also impacts the overall health outcomes of mothers and their newborns, significantly contributing to high maternal mortality rates; I want the House to resolve that the national government, through the Ministry of Health, develops a policy on prevention of obstetric violence in healthcare facilities and provides a framework for regular monitoring and reporting of cases to curb incidences of pre- and postpartum mistreatment of women," the motion reads.
The motion has gained priority in the National Assembly as one of the key legislative items following MPs’ return from recess.
If approved, the Ministry of Health will be tasked with formulating guidelines to prevent, monitor, and report obstetric violence.
