Kenya is undertaking a US$7.8 million (KES 1 billion) effort to accelerate maternal and newborn care, which will include scaling up essential products for preventing and diagnosing the leading cause of maternal death during childbirth.
The calibrated drape, which enables medical professionals to measure blood loss objectively and promptly connect women in need with emergency care, and heat-stable carbetocin, a high-quality medication that prevents postpartum hemorrhage and, unlike alternative products, does not require cold-chain storage, will be more widely available as a result.
Over the past 20 years, Kenya has made great strides in lowering maternal mortality; nonetheless, pregnancy and childbirth-related factors still claim the lives of some 5,000 women annually. About 40% of these deaths are caused by severe bleeding that occurs during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after delivery.
Building on earlier investments, domestic funds will now buy 1.5 million calibrated drapes and 1.5 million doses of heat-stable carbetocin, which would protect all Kenyan women giving delivery in the public sector for a maximum of two years.
“Kenya’s commitment to invest in quality maternal care is especially encouraging at a time when many countries are facing difficult choices in health spending,” stated Janet Ginnard, Director of Strategy at Unitaid. “In addition to saving women’s lives, ensuring access to effective medications and tools also strengthens health systems and lowers the need for expensive emergency care.”
The calibrated drape and heat-stable carbetocin, when administered as part of a package of treatment, have significantly decreased postpartum hemorrhage-related mortality in Kenya’s demonstration locations in recent years.
Through the AMPLI-PPHI program, Jhpiego and Unitaid have collaborated with the Kenyan government since 2022 to offer a complete set of tools for postpartum hemorrhage prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. By eliminating postpartum hemorrhage deaths by 2023, program sites in 36 high-volume healthcare facilities in Makueni County showed the effectiveness of these tools in lowering bleeding, referrals, and blood transfusions.
The county-wide scale-up was prompted by those sites’ success. Makueni County extended the intervention to all 243 maternity centers in the county in November 2024. Postpartum hemorrhage mortality decreased by around two-thirds in the county between 2022 and 2025.
According to Dr. Ouma Oluga, Principal Secretary for Medical Services at Kenya’s Ministry of Health, “Kenya is taking decisive action to prevent postpartum hemorrhage, one of the leading causes of maternal deaths in our country.” “We are improving the quality of care for moms and ensuring more women survive childbirth by investing in proven medications and technologies and scaling them worldwide. We are grateful to all of our partners who support us in this endeavor.
Through AMPLI-PPHI, Unitaid and Jhpiego have strengthened supply chains, policies, and provider training to facilitate national scale-up. A historic government purchase of 360,000 doses of heat-stable carbetocin was made possible by national quantification funded by AMPLI-PPHI. This resulted in a global access price of roughly US$0.74 (KES 95) as opposed to the private sector price of roughly US$21 (KES 2700), making a large-scale rollout financially feasible.
Paul Nyachae, Jhpiego Country Director, Kenya, stated, “What we have seen in Kenya shows that when health workers are equipped with the right medicines, tools, and training, they can dramatically improve outcomes for mothers.” “Seeing strong national leadership support interventions that have been shown to save lives is inspiring.”
Kenya’s assurance, which was made ahead of the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) in Nairobi next week (March 23–26), represents a significant advancement in the country’s efforts to improve maternal care and quicken the process of eliminating avoidable maternal fatalities.