An Assistant County Commissioner was reported dead during childbirth.
Millicent Ngonyo, the Vitengeni Assistant County Commissioner in Kilifi County was pronounced dead in a local hospital due to excessive bleeding.
A statement by Kilifi North Deputy County Commissioner Josephat Mutisya read: “It is with great sorrow that we report the untimely death of one of our officers, the assistant county commissioner of Vitengeni, Ganze sub-county."
Additionally, the statement read: "She died at 12 noon at the Kilifi County hospital after complications during delivery. She delivered well and the child is doing well. However, excessive bleeding led to her death.”
The county chief officer for medical services, Bilal Mazoya, told the press that doctors were unable to control the bleeding.
"It became difficult to stop it because she was bleeding from inside the uterus," Mazoya stated further refuting claims that the hospital ran out of blood as doctors tried to save Ngonyo's life.
According to Dr Bartilol Kigen, the Head Reproductive and Maternal Health Services Unit at the Ministry of Health, hemorrhage, complications from hypertension in pregnancy, sepsis and abortion complications are the leading cause of maternal deaths in Kenya.
Other factors attributed to contributing to high maternal mortality are the shortage of health workers, inadequate health care provider skills and harmful socio-cultural practices.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Kenya, revealed that 15 out of the 47 Counties account for 98 percent of maternal deaths during childbirth in the country.
Out of the total number of women of reproductive age who have died, 21 percent was as a result of pregnancy related causes.
The UNFPA report indicated that the deaths of 488 women per 100,000 could be reduced only through political goodwill and the active participation of civil society.
Approximately 8,000 women die in Kenya annually at childbirth due to poverty, insecurity and lack of access to health facility.
