Key Points at a Glance
- Kenya loses an estimated 15 women every day to preventable maternal deaths, according to Ministry of Health data
- Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality
- Families face crippling medical and burial costs following maternal deaths
- The unpaid care work of women, valued at KSh 2.54 trillion annually, is often overlooked
- Maternal death increases the risk of newborn death by up to 20 times
- Experts say early investment in maternal health delivers high economic returns
- Kenya currently spends only 3.3% of its national budget on health, far below global commitments
Adapted from reporting by:
When Brian Odhiambo escorted his wife, Wendy Majore, to hospital in October 2023, he expected to leave as a proud new father. Instead, within hours, his anticipation turned into grief.
Majore, a 25-year-old award-winning fashion designer and former Miss Curvy Kenya 2018, died while giving birth after suffering postpartum hemorrhage (PPH)—a leading but largely preventable cause of maternal death in Kenya.
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“The doctor told me she had delivered safely, but she was bleeding excessively,” Odhiambo recalls.
According to clinical guidelines referenced by the Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, postpartum hemorrhage is diagnosed when a mother loses more than 300 millilitres of blood during delivery, especially when accompanied by abnormal vital signs.
Odhiambo says his wife continued bleeding for nearly 45 minutes without receiving a blood transfusion as hospital staff waited for consent forms to be signed and blood to be sourced.
“I begged them to save her,” he says. “They told me I had to buy four pints of blood at KSh 5,000 each or find eight donors—while she was still bleeding. How does that happen in a hospital?”
A Widespread Crisis
Odhiambo’s experience reflects a broader national crisis. Ministry of Health data shows that approximately 15 women die every day in Kenya from preventable maternal causes, leaving families emotionally shattered and financially destabilized.
As Majore’s condition deteriorated, so did the demands placed on Odhiambo. After doctors repaired a cervical tear sustained during childbirth, the bleeding persisted. He was informed that his wife required referral to Kenyatta National Hospital, but no bed was available. The alternative, he was told, was a private facility.
“I was asked to raise KSh 300,000 for transfer,” he says. “At the same time, my newborn was in distress and needed oxygen.”
With an ailing mother who depended on him and no siblings to turn to, Odhiambo describes that moment as when his life “collapsed.”
Majore died shortly afterward. Even then, the costs continued to mount. Odhiambo was instructed to organize a hearse and secure space in a morgue—at a cost of nearly KSh 150,000.
The Hidden Economic Role of Mothers
Victor Ambula, another widower, knows this pain intimately. He lost his wife, Zipporah—his childhood sweetheart—after she bled excessively while delivering their fourth child and first daughter.
“I wasn’t even given time to grieve,” Ambula says. “I had six hours to figure out how to remove her body from the hospital.”
When he eventually brought his newborn daughter home, the economic reality hit hard. Infant formula was costly, and reliable childcare was difficult to secure.
“My aunt helped for a while, but she couldn’t stay,” he says. “I had three other children, rent, school fees, and work. I had to call my mother to help because I couldn’t manage alone.”
Beyond finances, Ambula says the emotional and logistical strain revealed how much unpaid labor his wife had carried.
“When we shared responsibilities, life was manageable,” he explains. “Now I realize how much work she did—school planning, uniforms, homework, running the household. Doing it alone is overwhelming.”
Unpaid Care Work and National Losses
These personal stories reflect a national economic burden. A 2025 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) report estimates the value of unpaid domestic and care work—largely performed by women—at KSh 2.54 trillion, equivalent to 23.1 percent of Kenya’s GDP.
For families like Ambula’s, this unpaid labor must now be replaced with paid caregivers, increasing household expenses and instability.
The Ministry of Health’s Division of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) notes that every shilling invested in maternal health yields a six-fold economic return.
Mary Magumba, Advocacy and Communication Program Lead at RMNCH, emphasizes that early intervention saves both lives and money.
“If an intervention costs about 130 shillings per mother, the economic value saved is roughly 910 shillings annually,” she explains. “Without these investments, we lose far more—in lives and in economic productivity.”
The Ripple Effect on Newborns
Maternal deaths also endanger newborns. Ministry of Health data shows that Kenya loses approximately 92 newborns every day.
Evidence from the World Health Organization indicates that a newborn’s risk of death increases up to 20-fold when the mother dies during or shortly after childbirth.
“When a mother dies, the baby loses breastfeeding, care, and protection,” Magumba says. “The indirect losses often exceed the direct medical costs.”
The Cost of Inaction
In response to persistently high maternal mortality, the Ministry of Health says Kenya is aligned with the global Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere (EWENE) initiative, which calls for universal access to quality maternal and newborn care.
Full implementation of the RMNCAH-N Investment Framework, according to the Ministry, could achieve 90 percent coverage of essential services. This would require an estimated KSh 32 billion in 2025, rising to KSh 48 billion by 2030.
Such investment is critical if Kenya is to meet SDG 2030 targets—reducing maternal mortality from 355 to below 70 deaths per 100,000 live births, and neonatal mortality from 21 to 12 deaths per 1,000 live births.
However, current funding falls far short. In the 2025/26 national budget, health received just 3.3 percent (KSh 138.1 billion) of total government expenditure—well below the 15 percent commitment under the 2001 Abuja Declaration, to which Kenya is a signatory.
Until this gap is addressed, the numbers will continue to rise—and every day, more Kenyan women will walk into hospitals to give life, only to never return home.
