Every day across Africa, women bring life into the world—often risking their own in the process. While maternal mortality has seen a decline, the stark reality continues to persist for many women in low-and-middle-income countries.
To transform maternal health, a decisive shift from reactive measures to the actual creation of truly resilient systems must happen. Health systems must be built on equity, empathy and evidence-based practices. Investing in maternal health transcends more than infrastructure development, it calls for a deep and sustained commitment to nurturing the people, cultivating leadership, fostering supportive mentorship and enacting policy shifts that prioritize the safety, well-being and dignity of women.
The power of policy: A foundation for change
Policy serves as the very bedrock upon which sustainable and lasting progress in maternal health is constructed. In Kenya and across the continent, free maternity services, maternal and perinatal death surveillance (MPDSR), and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) schemes can improve outcomes when effectively implemented. When these policies are not just enacted but effectively and equitably implemented, they demonstrably lead to improved outcomes and save lives. However, policies inscribed on paper are merely a starting point. To truly revolutionize maternal health, we must:
- Expand reach into underserved, rural, and high-risk communities: We must actively and strategically extend the life-saving benefits of these policies to the most underserved, geographically remote, and high-risk communities, ensuring that no woman, regardless of her location or socioeconomic status, is left behind.
- Provide consistent funding and health worker training: Sustainable progress demands unwavering and consistent financial investment, coupled with robust and ongoing training programs for healthcare workers, equipping them with the most up-to-date skills, essential resources, and support they need to provide quality care.
- Leverage data not just as a tool for reporting but for transformative action: Data must transcend the limitations of mere reporting; it must become a dynamic and indispensable catalyst for transformative action, meticulously guiding targeted interventions, optimizing resource allocation, and informed decisions driven by evidence and impact.
- Health policy must be a living tool, constantly adapting to the evolving and unique needs of diverse communities and firmly anchored in a culture of unwavering accountability. The crucial question we need to ask in every policy development stage is: Is this policy demonstrably saving mothers’ lives?
Investing in People: The role of mentorship and empowering leadership
Behind every strong and effective health system stand dedicated individuals and healthcare professionals who answer the call to serve day after day, often under immense pressure and limited resources. But dedication alone is insufficient. These frontline heroes require access to mentorship programs that foster growth, the cultivation of strong leadership skills that empower them to drive change, and unwavering institutional support that recognizes their value and invests in their well-being.
At Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK), we are at the forefront of creating vital spaces for mid-career providers to evolve into impactful and influential leaders. Through structured mentorship initiatives, immersive case-based learning opportunities, and active engagement in crucial policy discussions, empowering these providers to advocate for respectful and dignified maternity care, reproductive justice, and systemic change.
My own transformative experience as a 2024 WomenLift Health East Africa Global Fellow has profoundly underscored the catalytic impact of leadership that is deeply rooted in empathy, resilience, and the cultivation of strong, collaborative relationships. When women rise to positions of leadership with courage, conviction, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced, health systems inevitably become more responsive, more equitable, and ultimately, far more resilient in their ability to save lives.
Lessons from Tanzania: A pathway of transformative change
The remarkable and inspiring progress achieved by Tanzania, witnessing an extraordinary 80% reduction in maternal mortality rates over the past six years, offers invaluable and actionable lessons for Kenya and other nations striving to achieve similar transformative change in maternal health outcomes. Their remarkably successful model incorporates several key, evidence-based strategies:
- Deploying midwives and skilled birth attendants in rural areas: Proactively placing adequately trained midwives and skilled birth attendants in underserved areas ensures that women have access to quality, life-saving care where and when they need it most.
- Strengthening referral systems and emergency obstetric care: Establishing seamless and well-equipped referral systems, coupled with the provision of comprehensive and timely emergency obstetric care services at all levels of the health system, is critical for effectively managing obstetric complications and ultimately saving lives.
- Strengthening referral systems and emergency obstetric care: Actively engaging and equipping Community Health Promoters to proactively track pregnancies within their communities, provide essential health education, and effectively support care-seeking behaviors creates a vital and trusted link between women and the formal healthcare system.
- Leveraging real-time data for targeted responses: Utilizing timely and accurate data allows for swift and precisely targeted responses to emerging health challenges, enables evidence-based decision-making, and ensures that limited resources are allocated with maximum efficiency and impact.
Kenya, and other African countries, can effectively adapt and implement these highly successful strategies by prioritizing significant investments in enhanced midwifery training programs, embracing the digitization of referral systems for greater efficiency and speed, strategically scaling up and adequately resourcing community health promoter programs, and placing maternal health at the very center and forefront of county-level health planning and resource allocation. Tanzania’s story serves as a powerful testament to the fact that achieving significant progress in maternal health is not an unattainable aspiration; rather, it is the tangible and demonstrable result of unwavering bold political commitment, genuine and meaningful community engagement, and an unyielding focus on achieving measurable and impactful results.
My Call to Action
To policymakers: This is your pivotal moment to lead with both vision and resolute courage. Never forget that policies inscribed on paper, however well-intentioned, cannot save a single life without effective and equitable implementation. Fund maternal health as the national priority is not a peripheral concern. Invest strategically in leadership development pipelines within the health system, particularly at the crucial county and facility levels. Champion and support mentorship initiatives and midwifery-led innovations that have already demonstrated tangible impact. Critically, engage midwives, nurses, and women with lived experience as co-creators of solutions, not merely as recipients of policy decisions.
To healthcare providers – Especially our dedicated midwives:
Your voices matter! Your leadership is needed—now more than ever. You are so much more than skilled birth attendants; you are trusted counselors, fierce advocates for your patients, mentors, and the very shapers of our health systems at the frontlines. Speak up boldly and persistently for the systemic changes you urgently need to provide safe, dignified, and respectful care to every woman. Actively participate in leadership development opportunities, engage in vital policy discussions at all levels, and become powerful agents of change within your communities and institutions. Furthermore, commit to supporting and mentoring the next generation of dedicated providers who will follow in your footsteps, ensuring a pipeline of skilled and compassionate caregivers. Midwives must have a prominent and respected seat at the table where critical health system decisions are made, not just at the bedside when lives are on the line.
To the public and civil society:
Stand in solidarity with the dedicated healthcare professionals who dedicate their lives to delivering life-saving care to mothers and newborns. Demand transparency and accountability from your elected leaders and policymakers. Break the deafening silence that surrounds the tragedy of preventable maternal deaths and actively elevate the powerful stories of survival, resilience, and tireless advocacy within your communities. Support local organizations and NGOs working on the frontlines of maternal health and actively participate in community awareness campaigns that promote maternal health rights and access to quality care. Your collective voice has the power to ignite change.
Resilient health systems are not built on fleeting hopes or chance occurrences; they are the deliberate and hard-earned outcome of bold and visionary leadership, compassionate and highly skilled care delivered with empathy and respect, and sustained and prioritized investment in the most valuable resource of all – our people, especially the women who bring forth the future. Let us move decisively and with unwavering commitment from fragmentation to enduring fortification, from the stifling silence of neglect to a powerful and unified voice for change, and from unacceptable risk to a future where resilience, hope, and health prevail. Because every mother saved is not just a life preserved; it is a future brimming with untapped potential, and every voice raised in unison is a powerful force that will inevitably transform our systems and build a healthier, more equitable Africa for all.
About the Author
Polet Beverlyn is a Registered Midwife and Reproductive Health Nurse Specialist, currently serving as a Health Promotion Officer at Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya. She is a passionate advocate for adolescent, youth, and women’s reproductive health rights and serves as the National Vice Secretary of the Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK). As a 2024 WomenLift Health East Africa Global Fellow, Polet is committed to strengthening health systems through mentorship, leadership, and community-centered care.
