As the world convenes for the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC) 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya, a country known as a trailblazer in the adoption of innovative practices in the health sector, Kenya finds itself in a tight spot in its quest to achieve the targets for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 to reduce maternal deaths to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and neonatal mortalities to less than 12 per 1000 live births.
The country’s progress towards attaining the SDG targets remains remarkably off track, with maternal mortality rate (MMR) and neonatal mortality rate (NMR) rates at 355 per 100,000 and 21 per 1,000 live births, respectively. This highlights the urgency for critical resource alignment, realignment, and investments to address the current situation.
Mothers and newborns should not only survive but thrive. This has been a solemn call that stakeholders in the maternal and newborn space identify with over time. As the global community convenes in Kenya, all eyes are on governments, programme implementers, media, researchers, civil society, donor agencies, and champions and advocates as they seek to chart a clear path forward.
The struggle to address the poor outcomes of mothers and babies in Kenya takes a health systems dimension. In governance, key policy documents have been developed and adopted by the country to provide strategic guidance for the efforts towards reversing poor MNCH outcomes. The investment case for RMNCAH 2025/26 – 2029/30 serves to mobilize domestic and external resources and rally all stakeholders towards a common goal while providing policy guidance towards MNCH programming.
The country also developed the Kenya Strategy for Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition 2023-2028 for improved nutritional practices for children and mothers, including breastfeeding and food security. The launch of the country’s EWENE Acceleration Plan will eventually crown government efforts in providing stakeholders with the direction on what needs to be prioritized, scaled, and sustained to achieve measurable improvements in maternal and newborn health to achieve SDG targets on maternal and newborn health.
The financing infrastructure has transformed dramatically with the introduction of Social Health Insurance, which, despite public criticism over inefficiencies, continues to evolve each day to meet the needs of mothers visiting health facilities for maternal and newborn health services in the country. The implementation of the Facility Improvement Financing (FIF) Act 2023 has significantly shifted financial power from county health departments to health facilities recognized as procuring entities by providing autonomy over the collection and management of resources.
This approach empowers health facilities to independently prioritize critical MNCH needs, ensuring resources are allocated efficiently and aligned with local service delivery requirements. This policy move has been credited with encouraging decentralization within an already decentralized system of governance brought about by devolution.
The financing mechanism has a direct implication for the commodity security of MNCH in Kenya. Reports estimate that 98% of the funding for MNCH commodities is through government resources (Results for Development, 2025). It, however, faces fragmentation due to the complexity of the funding streams that flow through multiple national and county-level sources. Fragmented funding structures and the absence of clear policy guidance hinder counties and facilities from identifying and placing benchmarks for resources on commodity procurement. At the national level, this lack of clarity makes it difficult to assess the true MNCH commodity funding gap. County and facilities equally highlight that insufficient and overly complex funding channels remain one of their greatest challenges in ensuring consistent access to MNCH products.
Other challenges facing MNCH programming in Kenya include health worker shortages especially in rural areas, which significantly limits access to quality care for mothers and newborns, worsening health disparities between urban and rural populations, insufficient, unreliable data which is critical for informed decision-making and ensuring that plans and budgets reflect the most pressing needs, and inadequate community engagement, which continues despite substantial investment in Community Health Strategy and Primary Health Care (PHC) by the national and county governments.
The International Maternal and Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC 2026) in Nairobi provides a critical platform to confront Kenya’s maternal and newborn health challenges, ranging from fragmented financing streams and commodity insecurity to health worker shortages, weak data systems, and limited community engagement. International Centre for Reproductive Health–Kenya (ICRHK) is proud to join the Maternal and Newborn Health Global Community at IMNHC 2026, standing alongside partners from across the world to seek bold, evidence-based solutions that address the pressing challenges facing mothers and newborns in Kenya and Sub-Saharan Africa. The Centre reaffirms its dedication to be part of a community of practice uniting to tackle pressing challenges in maternal and newborn health while advancing reproductive health and addressing the systemic issues that continue to affect families in the region. ICRHK takes this as an opportunity to share insights, contribute solutions, and collaborate with partners committed to improving outcomes for mothers and babies in Kenya and across Sub-Saharan Africa.
At the IMNHC 2026, ICRH-K calls on governments to adopt viable and evidence-based innovations and high-impact practices that strengthen health systems, close equity gaps, and accelerate progress toward reducing maternal and newborn mortality. The Centre calls on researchers to generate robust, context-specific evidence, share knowledge openly and widely, and translate findings into actionable policies and practices that improve maternal and newborn health. It calls on all implementing partners and the donor community to align resources with national priorities, invest in sustainable and scalable programs, and foster genuine collaboration that strengthens health systems and empowers communities.
Reference
Results for Development. (2025). Maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition market assessment: Kenya – Summary findings. Results for Development. https://r4d.org/wp-content/uploads/R4D_MNCH-N-market-assessment_Kenya_May-2025_final.pdf
By Stephen Yambi – ICRH-K
