Health Ministry Launches Campaign on Safe Motherhood

The Kenyan Ministry of Health has officially launched a major campaign dubbed EWENE — Every Woman, Every Newborn, Everywhere — to intensify efforts to prevent avoidable maternal and newborn deaths. The initiative, rolled out during a national workshop in Machakos, brings together government officials, county health leaders, and maternal health experts to coordinate on communication strategies and service delivery. Dr Edward Serem, head of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health Division, emphasized that deliberate action is needed to save lives, calling for stronger resource allocation and public awareness.
This campaign builds on a series of recent interventions by the Ministry to raise Kenya’s standards of maternal care. In October 2025, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale reiterated that maternal health would remain a national priority, urging stakeholders to take a life-course approach that supports women from adolescence through postpartum. Among the new measures announced are a national Reproductive-Age Mortality Survey (RAMOS) to track causes of death among women of childbearing age, and the roll-out of a digitized Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) system. These digital tools are expected to deliver real-time data that can inform more targeted, timely interventions.
The EWENE campaign has drawn widespread support from development partners and non-governmental organisations, reinforcing its ambition to save lives. In her remarks, the Ministry’s Principal Secretary for Public Health, Mary Muthoni Muriuki, highlighted partnerships with the Beginnings Fund Initiative, which is targeting high-burden maternal and newborn facilities in 15 counties to scale up quality interventions. At the sub-national level, counties like Vihiga are pioneering complementary approaches: Vihiga has launched motorcycle ambulances to speed up referrals for pregnant women in remote areas, aiming to reduce its maternal mortality rate. Looking ahead, the Ministry says it will sustain the EWENE campaign by combining data-driven policy, county-level action, and community outreach — aiming for lasting reductions in maternal and neonatal deaths across Kenya.