Report Highlights Gaps in Maternal Health Services

A newly released Kenya Health Facility Assessment (2024) – Quality of Care and Human Resources for Health Report has exposed serious shortfalls in the provision of maternal and newborn care across the country. The assessment, covering 3,605 health facilities, found that only 37 percent of facilities with delivery services were able to perform all seven Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) signal functions.
The report also notes that less than half (46 percent) of Level 4 and 5 hospitals are fully equipped to offer Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC), raising concerns over the capacity of higher-level facilities to respond to complicated childbirth cases. In addition, only around 40 percent of life‑threatening maternal conditions—such as postpartum hemorrhage—were being diagnosed and treated correctly, while appropriate management of birth asphyxia was recorded in just 36 percent of cases.Drug shortages are compounding the problem. The evaluation revealed frequent stock-outs of critical medical and laboratory supplies needed to manage obstetric emergencies, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Human resource gaps were also stark: Kenya’s core health workforce density was reported at just 14.3 health workers per 10,000 population, which falls short of the WHO-recommended threshold of 23 per 10,000. This evidence aligns with other concerns raised by global health agencies. A PMNCH report points out that many facilities still lack safe blood transfusion services, trained staff, and critical drugs like oxytocin and tranexamic acid—tools that could prevent many maternal deaths. Meanwhile, Kenya’s Principal Secretary for Medical Services, Dr. Ouma Oluga, has called for stronger partnership efforts to address persistent maternal and newborn mortality, acknowledging that despite significant efforts … maternal mortality in Kenya remains unacceptably high.