Makueni healthcare workers team up with traditional birth attendants to tackle maternal deaths
In Makueni County, Kenya, traditional birth attendants are partnering with local healthcare workers to reduce maternal mortality rates. By encouraging hospital births and bridging the gap between rural communities and medical facilities, the initiative aims to prevent deaths from postpartum hemorrhage.
Why it matters
This community-led model demonstrates how integrating traditional knowledge with formal medical systems can improve health outcomes in underserved regions.
Postpartum haemorrhage (severe bleeding after delivery) remains one of the leading causes of maternal deaths in Kenya and across the world. It strikes suddenly, often without warning, claiming the lives of mothers within hours if emergency care is not available.
In Makueni County, however, a quiet transformation is taking place.
Through stronger community partnerships, better-equipped health facilities and a life-saving medicine designed for rural settings, the county is proving that these deaths are not inevitable.
For decades, Lena Mathei Kitheka was the woman many expectant mothers turned to when labour began.
She started assisting women to give birth when she was just 30 years old. Without formal medical training, she relied on experience passed down through generations, helping mothers deliver in their homes, often with little more than courage and determination.
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