Kajiado medics introduce 'manyatta maternity wards' to encourage mums to give birth away from home

“It has been a challenge to get some women in the villages to deliver in hospitals because they believe they are cold and they are not sure about how they will be treated by health workers, but setting up manyatta maternity wards has helped several warm up to the idea,” Wendo Aszed, a medic, said.

Christine Namunyak, a mother who recently delivered her baby in a manyatta ward said, “I was at first skeptical about leaving my house because of the cold. It is not good to be in a cold place. But I realized the manyatta ward is adequately warm.”

As more women embrace the manyatta wards, transport to medical facilities is still a challenge, with several providers having to opt for makeshift ambulances or using tuk tuks to transport expectant women to the medical facilities.

Tiampasi Risa, a mother, said, “One of the other reasons many mothers prefer to give birth at home is also because of the transport issue. You will find a mother stranded looking for transport to the nearest facility and ends up giving birth on transit, so she would rather stay at home and give birth from there.”