National Assembly Health Committee chairperson Dr. James Nyikal has called for urgent legislative reforms to curb Kenya’s rising maternal deaths, warning that the country has no business appearing among African nations with the highest mortality rates.
Speaking at a health policy forum in Nairobi themed “Legislating to Save Lives: Strengthening the Legal Framework for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Kenya,” the Seme MP said the figures amount to a national embarrassment that demands urgent action.
Nyikal noted that more than two-thirds of global maternal deaths occur in Africa, yet Kenya’s share remains disproportionately high.
“We are having an inordinate larger portion of those deaths… Kenya should not be there. Something is not right,” he said.
Kenya currently records 530 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births—levels Nyikal compared to nations experiencing conflict, extreme poverty or institutional fragility.
He questioned how such numbers persist despite the country’s relative stability and progress in other health indicators.
While child survival rates have improved, maternal mortality has climbed due to conditions he described as preventable.
He cited national data showing hemorrhage accounts for 44 percent of maternal deaths, followed by obstructed labour at 34 percent, eclampsia at 13 percent, sepsis at 6 percent and ruptured uterus at 3 percent.
“All of them are things we can do something about,” he said.
Nyikal urged researchers to examine why the situation worsened after devolution, warning that county systems may have weakened critical maternal services.
“With devolution, something happened; we lost something,” he said. “Researchers should tell us what has been the impact of devolution on health indices.”
He called on lawmakers to prioritise three key bills before Parliament, saying they are essential to safeguarding the lives and rights of women and children.
These include the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Bill, which seeks to strengthen access to quality services before, during and after childbirth; the Breastfeeding Mothers Bill, intended to protect the rights of breastfeeding women at work and in public; and the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, which would regulate fertility treatment and provide legal clarity on procedures such as surrogacy and egg donation.
Nyikal cautioned the Senate against delaying the reproductive technology law as it did previously.
“Issues like surrogacy are going on without a law… We do not know what is happening to our young donors,” he said.
Defending the breastfeeding bill, he stressed that breast milk cannot be replaced by any formula.
“Breast milk is alive. It actually has living components,” he said, adding that brain development depends heavily on nutrition in the first three years.
Nyikal also pointed to weaknesses in the referral system, arguing that maternal deaths could drop if each sub-county had a fully equipped level four hospital capable of emergency caesarean sections and blood transfusions.
He proposed designating one county as a model for a functional maternal care network with strong ambulance linkages.
He warned that Kenya’s crisis stems not from lack of knowledge but from failure to act.
“The ‘know-do gap’ is where people know but they don’t do.”
Nyikal appealed to both Houses of Parliament to fast-track the bills, saying every Kenyan family “deserves a healthy start and a dignified future.”
