First Lady Rachel Ruto has challenged national and county governments to make healthcare commitments count through reliable services, better patient care and stronger accountability, saying the success of Kenya’s health system should be measured by lives saved rather than policies and promises.
Speaking on the second day of the Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on Wednesday, Rachel said government programmes, funding and policies must translate into real improvements for patients, families and healthcare workers.
She said President William Ruto’s administration remained committed to strengthening the health sector but stressed that stakeholders must ensure those commitments produce results for Kenyans.
“In healthcare, our promise is not measured by the words we speak. It is measured in lives. It is the mother who walks home with her newborn, the premature baby who defies the odds, the patient who finally gets care when they need it most, not when it’s convenient for the system.”
Rachel said her own experiences of waiting for updates about loved ones receiving treatment had deepened her understanding of the need for a healthcare system that responds to patients and their families.
She said policies and financial investments would only have meaning if they improved the experience and outcomes of people seeking care while also giving healthcare workers the support they need.
“A policy becomes meaningful when a mother feels safe in a maternity ward. An investment becomes meaningful when a newborn survives. A healthcare worker becomes empowered when they have the tools to save a life, and a health system becomes successful when a Kenyan does not have to travel hundreds of kilometres to receive care.”
Maternal and newborn health formed a key part of Rachel’s address, with the First Lady pointing to the Every Woman, Every Newborn, Everywhere Acceleration Plan launched in May as an opportunity to step up efforts to prevent avoidable deaths.
She said putting the plan into action would require political leadership, sustained investment, skilled health workers, dependable medical equipment and supplies, effective referral systems and accountability from every player in the health sector.
“The answer is not complicated. It takes leadership, investment, skilled healthcare workers, reliable equipment and supplies, referral systems that actually work when a life is on the line, and above all, it takes accountability across all stakeholders in the healthcare sector.”
Rachel said available figures showed the urgent need to improve maternal and newborn care.
She cited an estimated maternal mortality rate of about 355 deaths per 100,000 live births and neonatal mortality of approximately 21 deaths per 1,000 live births.
She cautioned against viewing the figures as simple statistics, saying every maternal or newborn death affects a mother, child, family and community and may represent a loss that could have been prevented.
As Kenya’s goodwill ambassador for newborn screening, Rachel also welcomed measures included in the 2026–2028 acceleration plan.
The measures include expanding maternal healthcare coverage through the Social Health Authority, improving access to essential commodities and recruiting and redeploying thousands of nurses and midwives.
Rachel pointed to health facilities that had gone through periods without maternal deaths and community screening programmes that had reached more than 15,000 people as examples of what can be achieved when interventions are coordinated.
She called for a healthcare system where access to quality services does not depend on a person’s financial position or the county where they were born.
“Let us build a Kenya where a mother does not have to be wealthy to receive quality care, where a newborn’s chance of survival is not determined by the county in which they are born, where a health worker is not sent into a crisis without the tools to respond.”
The First Lady urged national and county governments, healthcare workers and other stakeholders to strengthen accountability and ensure commitments made in the health sector lead to consistent and dependable services.
Rachel ended her address with a call for continued action to protect mothers and newborns: “Okoa mama, okoa mtoto. Save the mother, save the child.”