Report: 90% of all maternal deaths blamed on health workers

A new Ministry of Health report has revealed that between 6,000 – 8,000 women die during childbirth every year with health workers blamed for almost all the deaths.

The ministry found that 945 maternal deaths were reported in 2014 but experts however believe that the real number is much higher, attributing the low numbers reported to poor record keeping.

The confidential inquiry into maternal deaths found that the median age of women who died was 27 with a majority victims having died during their first or second pregnancy.

The main causes of death were obstetric hemorrhage where two out of five women died from losing too much blood, indirect causes such as hypertension, and diseases such as HIV and anemia.

It further emerged that 15 counties, among them; Marsabit, Mandera, Garissa, Lamu, Migori, Bungoma and Nairobi had the highest incidents of maternal deaths.

The report was released in the presence of healthcare representatives from all 47 counties, tellingly revealed that nine out of ten maternal deaths had been caused by sub-standard care in health facilities.

County governments have been urged to allocate more resources to healthcare in order to enhance access to quality healthcare as well as scale up support to caregivers in even the most remote areas.