
Inside a hospital ward at Kibwezi Sub-County Hospital, little Michael (not his real name) faintly opens his eyes and fixes them on the strangers standing beside his bed.
Startled by their presence, he lets out a whimper and clutches his frail hands onto his mother, as if seeking protection and reassurance.
The mother, barely out of her teenage years, picks him up and cuddles him, gently patting his back. Feeling safe, the child buries his head in his mother’s bosom, his tiny body clinging to life. With the baby now comforted, the mother’s face lights up with a guilt-laden smile. She is the reason little Michael is admitted here, or so the medics say.