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The Kenya Health and Leadership Congress 2015 began in Nairobi on February 23, 2015 with stakeholders calling for reduced maternal deaths in counties.

Speakers noted that despite the introduction of free maternity health, most mothers still died from preventable complications arising from lack of adequate infrastructure.

According to Dr Maurice Siminyu, Chair, Council of Health Executives (CEC), most women have died due to lack of blood transfusion during child delivery.

“Women have died during child delivery because of excessive bleeding. We are requesting the national government to create blood donation centres at county levels to that they be easily accessible to medical practitioners,” said Dr Siminyu.

Prof Khama Rogo, a health reproductive practitioner also noted that Mandera County had high number of maternal deaths in the country.

“It’s surprising that around 3,000 women die in Mandera County more than in South Sudan. This is a challenge that has to be addressed,” said Prof Rogo.

However, Dr Khadijah Kassachon, Principal Secretary, Health stated that the government will continue supporting health centres at county levels in order for them to provide adequate services.

“Devolution is the best thing that has happened to Kenya. We’ll support devolved health because it’s our mandate as the national government,” said Dr Kassachon.

The congress, which runs to February 27, aims to take stock of the performance of the health sector, reflect on the status of health leadership, management and governance, as well as draw out the emerging issues and priorities in our devolved health system.

The forum, whose theme is “Transforming Healthcare in our Devolved System” also aims to identify strategies and agree on priority actions to address challenges hindering achievement of health sector priorities, including strengthening of health leadership, management and governance.