Report Shows Gaps in Maternal Health Services

A new national assessment has exposed serious deficiencies in maternal health across Kenyan health facilities, according to reports unveiled by the Ministry of Health. The Quality of Care and Human Resources for Health Assessment and the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) highlighted that only 37% of delivery-service facilities have all seven Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) signal functions —services critical for handling birth complications.
Even at higher-level hospitals, comprehensive obstetric care is lacking. The assessment found that fewer than half (46%) of Level-4 and Level-5 hospitals are fully equipped to provide Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC), including lifesaving interventions like blood transfusion and advanced neonatal care. Staffing is another critical challenge: Kenya’s overall healthcare workforce density stands at just 14.3 health workers per 10,000 people, far below the WHO recommendation of 23 per 10,000, with many rural counties particularly affected.
The report also identifies serious safety and quality-of-care issues. According to the Kenya Health Facility Assessment 2024, only 61% of facilities are adequately prepared to deliver safe maternal and surgical care. There are troubling patterns of obstetric violence (dehumanizing or neglectful treatment during childbirth), reportedly driven by staffing shortages, poorly trained personnel, overcrowded wards, and inadequate privacy in labor wards.
Another major gap is in post-abortion care. A recent study by APHRC and the Ministry of Health found that only 18% of primary-level facilities and 24% of referral-level facilities meet minimum standards for comprehensive post-abortion care. These combined issues—insufficient emergency obstetric capacity, staffing shortages, supply constraints, and weak facility readiness—are contributing to avoidable maternal deaths and undermining Kenya’s progress toward better maternal health.