Maternal mortality levels in Kenya remain unacceptably high at 488 per 100,000 live births 1 . The United Nations estimated in 2005 that 1 in every 39 Kenyan women die in childbirth; while major progress has been made in reducing infant and child mortality rates, one in every 19 babies born in Kenya this year will die before their first birthday. 60% of these deaths will occur in the neonatal period. While poverty and high rates of HIV, TB, malaria and other infectious diseases provide underlying substantial challenges, the appalling mortality statistics implicate dysfunctional health systems as being the principal obstacle for.
