President William Ruto launched a major new effort at State House in Nairobi on May 28 to halve preventable deaths among mothers and babies. The EWENE Acceleration Plan for 2026 to 2028 kicks off with a six-month push in the hardest-hit counties. Backed by billions in funding for free deliveries, supplies, family planning, and thousands more nurses, the initiative aims to tackle Kenya’s stubborn maternal mortality rate through the Social Health Authority and better local care.
Ruto stood at the podium wearing a navy EWENE cap and spoke with visible emotion about the human cost behind the numbers. Kenya still loses around 355 mothers for every 100,000 live births, a figure that means roughly 15 women die every day from complications that should not claim their lives. Health workers and families in places like Migori, Kisumu, and parts of the Coast have lived with this reality for years.
The president did not hide his personal stake in the issue. In his address to health officials, governors, and partners gathered at State House, Ruto shared, “Mothers are losing their lives during childbirth, and newborns continue to die. This experience is personal to me. Mama Racheal and I lost our first-born son. It’s not something that is far-fetched; it is a reality that we live through every day.”
He recalled an awkward encounter last year in New York with a professor linked to Warren Buffett. “She walked up to me and told me, Mr President, women and children are dying in your country,” he said. The woman pointed out Kenya’s troubling ranking alongside places like Afghanistan, calling it shameful for a progressive nation. Ruto described the moment as embarrassing and tragic, one that stuck with him.
How the new plan aims to save lives
The EWENE plan, which stands for Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere, sets concrete targets. Officials want to bring maternal deaths down toward 140 per 100,000 by 2028. A Rapid Results Initiative is already rolling out across 26 high-burden counties. It focuses on better antenatal care, skilled deliveries, emergency response, and follow-up care after birth.
Money is flowing. The government has set aside 4 billion Kenyan shillings through the Social Health Authority to cover free deliveries for pregnant women. Another billion goes to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority for essential commodities like drugs and equipment. There is fresh funding for family planning commodities and a push to recruit and deploy up to 5,000 new nurses and midwives where they are needed most.
Ruto pointed to early signs of progress with the SHA rollout. “WhatsApp groups for raising harambees for hospital bills have gone down because of SHA, and this is just one and a half years,” he noted.
Many families no longer face the sudden panic of selling land or begging neighbours for cash when a mother needs emergency care. Yet critics in hospitals and on social media say reimbursement delays still leave facilities struggling and some women sharing beds or missing timely help.
One nurse bana.co.ke spoke with in a busy county facility described nights when staff stretch thin. “We have the skills, but sometimes the supplies run low or the ambulance is delayed on bad roads,” she said, asking not to be named because she works in a public hospital.
Challenges on the ground
Kenya has made strides before. Programmes like the old Linda Mama initiative helped ease some burdens, though opinions differ sharply on its replacement. Public conversations on X and in markets mix hope with scepticism. Some wonder if the new funds will reach the smallest clinics or if bureaucracy will slow things down again.
Ruto insisted health care must be a right, not a privilege. “Health, as I have always said, cannot continue to be a privilege for those who can afford it. Those with jobs or money,” he told the audience. “It must be, as is in the constitution, Section 43, a right for every citizen of the Republic of Kenya, irrespective of who they are, where they come from, their socioeconomic status, or whatever other persuasion.”
The six-month rapid push includes training hundreds more workers in emergency obstetric and newborn care. An emergency hotline is active, and counties are tailoring their own plans to local realities, from arid regions where distances are vast to crowded urban slums.
Ordinary Kenyans watching the launch had mixed reactions. A mother of three from Nakuru told a local reporter she welcomes anything that means safer births but wants to see real change at her nearest health centre. “We hear big numbers in Nairobi, but what matters is whether my sister can deliver without fear next month,” she said.