Maternal deaths in Kenya worry WHO

Between 3,000 to 6,000 women in Kenya die of pregnancy related complications every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

According to local daily The Standard's report on Wednesday, WHO Kenya representative Peter Eriki said one in every 20 expectant women risked dying from pregnancy related conditions.

Eriki put the number of total pregnancies in the country at 1.5 million every year. He said most of the women died due to inaccessible health care, which was exacerbated by poverty and illiteracy, coupled with social and economic inequality of women.

Eriki said one out of 16 women in Africa died during childbirth compared to one in 4,000 in Europe.

"Although a lot have been done in improving health indicators in the various health programs in the African region there are some major obstacles in the implementation of programs such as reproductive health," said Eriki.

The challenges include professional attitude, resistance to change, poor performance of health systems and unsatisfactory working conditions in health facilities, he said.

Source: Xinhua