MPs warn of rising maternal deaths as counties fail on health

Members of Parliament have raised alarm over the state of Kenya’s devolved health system, warning that maternal deaths are rising due to drug shortages, negligence, collapsing infrastructure and misplaced county priorities.

National Assembly Health Committee Chairperson Dr James Nyikal said Kenya must urgently strengthen health laws to save mothers and newborns, describing current maternal mortality rates as “a national embarrassment that demands urgent action.”

“More than two-thirds of maternal deaths in the world occur in Africa. We are having an inordinately larger portion of those deaths… Kenya should not be there. Something is not right,” he said.

Nyikal noted that Kenya records an estimated 530 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births — a rate comparable to countries facing war, extreme poverty or fragile governance — and questioned how a nation with Kenya’s relative stability could still lag so dangerously behind.

Despite improvements in child survival, he said maternal deaths have continued to rise due to preventable causes. Kenya’s data shows haemorrhage accounts for 44 per cent of maternal deaths, obstructed labour for 34 per cent, eclampsia for 13 per cent, sepsis for six per cent and ruptured uterus for three per cent.

“All of them are things we can do something about,” he stated.

He spoke during a health policy forum in Nairobi titled Legislating to Save Lives: Strengthening the Legal Framework for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Kenya, organised by the Health NGOs Network (HENNET).

Nyikal called for research to establish why maternal indicators worsened after devolution, warning that county health systems have weakened critical maternal services.

“With devolution, something happened; we lost something… Researchers should tell us what the impact of devolution on health indices has been,” he said.

He urged lawmakers to prioritise three key health-related bills currently before Parliament, saying their passage would represent a major milestone in safeguarding the rights and lives of women, infants and families.

The bills are the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Bill, which seeks to strengthen access to quality care before, during and after childbirth; the Breastfeeding Mothers Bill, aimed at protecting the rights of breastfeeding women at work and in public spaces; and the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, designed to regulate fertility treatment and provide a legal framework for families seeking reproductive assistance.

Samburu Woman Rep Pauline Lenguris condemned what she described as a collapsing devolved healthcare system, saying it is costing mothers and newborns their lives. She said county hospitals are critically understaffed, poorly equipped and lack essential supplies — from gloves to life-saving medicines and blood.

Lenguris, a member of the Health Committee, accused governors of diverting funds meant for medicines, staffing and equipment towards grand infrastructure projects.

“Governors receive billions because health is devolved, but they divert the money meant for health to put up big structures which, when you go there, are not even equipped,” she said. “You enter these hospitals and find nothing.”

Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara said devolution had crippled maternal care in remote areas. She called for a joint forum bringing together health experts, Senate committees, county executives and budget officials to scrutinise the crisis. “They need to know where the problem is,” she said.

Nominated Senator Mariam Omar, vice-chair of the Senate Health Committee, recounted her experiences during visits to several Level 3 hospitals across the country. Omar recalled a case where she found a mother about to deliver in a hospital that lacked sterilised instruments.

“The only available equipment was in a bucket that had already been used,” she said.

She criticised county governments for prioritising infrastructure at referral hospitals while leaving Level 2 and Level 3 facilities under-resourced and poorly managed.

Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society President Dr Kireki Omanwa identified pre-eclampsia, postpartum haemorrhage and sepsis as the three leading killers of mothers, all easily preventable with basic medical supplies.

Dr Omanwa, a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi, said lifesaving medication costing between Sh100 and Sh150 is unavailable in most public hospitals, forcing doctors to watch mothers and babies deteriorate.

He also described overcrowded maternity wards where women give birth in undignified conditions.

“Mothers should not deliver in such places, in such conditions,” he said.