{"id":4058,"date":"2026-02-03T13:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T13:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amref.org\/kenya\/?page_id=4058"},"modified":"2026-02-10T06:49:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:49:31","slug":"maternal-newborn-health-kenya","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/amref.org\/kenya\/maternal-newborn-health-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"Maternal and Newborn Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Challenge<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Maternal and newborn health remains one of the most persistent public health challenges in Kenya, reflecting deep systemic gaps across the continuum of care<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>from the community to health facilities. Each year, nearly 5,000 women and girls lose their lives due to preventable complications related to pregnancy and childbirth (UNFPA, 2022). While Kenya made notable progress in reducing maternal deaths between 2008 and 2014, this momentum has stalled over the past decade. The maternal mortality ratio currently stands at 355 deaths per 100,000 live births (KDHS 2022), far above the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Neonatal mortality has remained largely unchanged for nearly three decades, declining only marginally from 28 to 21 deaths per 1,000 live births (KDHS reports). This rate is almost double the SDG target of 12 per 1,000 live births, signalling persistent gaps in quality antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

These deaths are largely preventable. They are driven by delays in seeking care, limited access to skilled birth attendance, inadequate emergency obstetric and newborn care, weak referral systems, and persistent inequities affecting adolescents, women in rural and informal settlements, and marginalized communities. Health system constraints<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>such as shortages of skilled health workers, uneven quality of care, insufficient commodities, and limited community-level engagement<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>further exacerbate the risk for mothers and newborns.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Without targeted, coordinated, and people-centred interventions that strengthen health systems while addressing social and structural barriers, Kenya risks falling further behind its national and global maternal and newborn health commitments. Addressing these challenges is critical not only to saving lives, but also to safeguarding the health, dignity, and future of women, newborns, families, and communities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our Approach: Delivering the MNH Big Bet <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Amref Health Africa\u2019s Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) Big Bet focuses on\u00a0<\/span>saving mothers and newborns by fixing what is broken in the health system<\/span>, particularly where most deaths occur<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>high-burden referral facilities and weak primary care networks. Our approach prioritises scale, quality, and accountability to achieve measurable reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality by 2030.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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High-Response Maternity Units for maternal survival<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Recognising that 60\u201370% of maternal deaths occur in referral hospitals, Amref strengthens high-volume maternity units to rapidly prevent and manage obstetric emergencies. This includes scaling up evidence-based interventions such as the\u00a0<\/span>E-MOTIVE bundle for postpartum haemorrhage<\/span>, strengthening midwifery-led care, deploying networked specialists, improving clinical governance, and ensuring availability of life-saving commodities through standardized MNH \u201ccombi-packs\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Strengthening response systems for newborn care<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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To address the high burden of neonatal <\/span>deaths<\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/span>most<\/span>\u00a0occurring within the first week of life<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Amref improves the quality and readiness of newborn units across referral facilities. This includes workforce development for neonatal specialists and nurses, scaling up low-cost high-impact\u00a0<\/span>interventions such as\u00a0<\/span>integrated Kangaroo Mother Care (iKMC)<\/span>, strengthening referral coordination, and improving access to essential newborn commodities and equipment<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Building a strong MNH continuum through Primary Health Care<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Amref\u00a0<\/span><\/span>has\u00a0<\/span>established<\/span>\u00a0and operationalized<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Primary Care Networks (PCNs)<\/span>\u00a0to ensure early risk identification, continuity of care, and timely referrals. This includes expanding multidisciplinary teams, improving access to diagnostics, deploying digital tools to track high-risk pregnancies, strengthening community health promoter capacity, and integrating preconception and family planning services into MNH programming\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Accountability, data, and government-led scale-up<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Amref supports national and county governments to institutionalise\u00a0<\/span>real-time MPDSR dashboards<\/span>, strengthen social accountability mechanisms, and scale proven MNH innovations through government-led systems<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>ensuring sustainable, country-owned impact at scale<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Projects under the MNH Portfolio <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Project<\/th>\r\n Counties of Implementation<\/th>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/thead>\r\n
Uzazi Salama<\/td>\r\n Narok, Kilifi<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n
Integrated Fistula Programme<\/td>\r\n Migori, Kiambu, Bungoma, Kilifi<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n
Integrated Refugee Response Programme- Danida Transcend<\/td>\r\n Turkana<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n
CHU4UHC- GSK Grant<\/td>\r\n Meru<\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Our Impact<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kilifi County<\/h4>\r\n

\r\n 85% reduction<\/strong> in facility-based maternal mortality\r\n (138.6 to 21.2 per 100,000), improved perinatal death rates from\r\n 29% to 92%<\/strong>, while facility NMR dropped from\r\n 56% to 31%<\/strong>.\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Kwale County<\/h4>\r\n

\r\n 30% reduction<\/strong> in maternal deaths and a\r\n 34% reduction<\/strong> in facility-based neonatal deaths\r\n (from 13.08 to 8.57 per 1,000 live births).\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n

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Narok County<\/h4>\r\n

\r\n A 30% decline<\/strong> in neonatal mortality,\r\n from 4.93 to 3.43 per 1,000 live births.\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Challenge Maternal and newborn health remains one of the most persistent public health challenges in Kenya, reflecting deep systemic gaps across the continuum of care,\u00a0from the community to health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"yst_prominent_words":[2123,2083,748],"class_list":["post-4058","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n