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Kenya has made gradual strides in advancing the health of women, children, and adolescents in recent decades. These efforts have led to positive trends, including reduced fertility rates, increased facility birth attendance, and expanded use of modern family planning methods. As reported in the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2022 (KDHS, 2022):
Fertility in Kenya has declined from 4.9 children per woman in 2003 to 3.4 children per woman in 2022
Facility births have more than doubled in the past two decades, with 88% of live births delivered in a health facility in 2022 compared to 39% of live births in 2003
Use of modern family planning methods among married women increased from 32% in 2003 to 57% in 2022
The right to health, including reproductive health care, is enshrined in Kenya’s Bill of Rights and is further evidenced in numerous national policies and legislation prioritizing the realization of Universal Health Coverage.
Despite this supportive environment and commendable progress, far greater acceleration is needed to ensure the improved health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents.
As shared by Dr. Margaret Lubaale, Executive Director, HENNET:
“While advancements have been made in improving RMNCAHN, more action is needed to tackle the ongoing challenges faced by women, children, and adolescents. Maternal, and newborn mortality rates remain high, with stillbirths worsening. Following recent reaffirmations at the Maternal and Newborn Health Summit in Lusaka and relaunch of EWENE, Kenya must urgently examine and address the factors preventing the elimination of preventable maternal and child deaths.”
Gaps in health system financing, inequitable access, deep disparities between and within counties, suboptimal quality of care, financing and health system barriers threaten the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals related to women, children, and adolescents.
Responding to the need for accelerated progress, the Collaborative Advocacy Action Plan (CAAP) initiative in Kenya aims to improve accountability for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health through coordinated efforts among partners.
Coordinated by Health NGO’s Network (HENNET) with the support of Aga Khan University’s Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health (AKU CoEWCH) as a research and knowledge partner, the CAAP initiative has brought together over 45 organizations to review the status of national commitments and identify priority areas for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) advocacy.
Unique to Kenya’s CAAP advocacy journey has been the robust inclusion of subnational civil society groups and adolescent and youth-led organizations. Virtual coverings and the use of Kenya’s Digital Advocacy Hub helped spur broader participation of historically underrepresented constituencies, often barred from in-person participation due to funding and travel constraints.
As described by Sharon Musakali, Senior Program Officer, HENNET and CAAP focal point:
“Designed to unite the expertise and commitment of Kenyan organizations and individuals to advance the health and rights of women, children, and adolescents in Kenya, the Kenya Hub has attracted over 100 partners. Our vision is for the Hubs to foster effective exchange of national and county-level information on projects, events, and other initiatives, while also enabling stakeholders to share resources such as reviews, case studies, and the latest policies aimed at improving RMNCAHN performance indicators.”
Kenya’s CAAP process began with a thorough assessment of Kenya’s national commitments for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health. This review evaluated the implementation status of key commitments, policies, and legislation and identified challenges and provided recommendations. As shared by Prof. Marleen Temmerman, Director of AKU CoEWCH and PMNCH Board Member,
“The scoping and assessment reflects great national commitments in the RMNCAH area, however, the implementation of commitments is lacking behind. High-level leadership, coordination, involvement of all constituencies and oversight are key to progress. AKU CoEWCH is committed to partnering in research, knowledge translation, monitoring, and measuring impact.”
Through additional consultations with partners, Kenya’s Collaborative Advocacy Action Plan was formed. The Plan serves as a framework for coordinated advocacy by partners, outlining five key advocacy goals and proposing supportive activities to enhance the implementation of existing national commitments and address critical gaps. These activities aim to:
End preventable Maternal, Perinatal, Neonatal, and Child Mortalities: Advocate for urgent, accelerated action to end preventable maternal, perinatal, neonatal, and child mortalities, including stillbirths, by 2030.
Strengthen adolescent and youth-responsive health systems and end teenage pregnancy: Advocate for the integration of youth-responsive health services in line with the National Guidelines for Provision of Adolescent Youth Friendly Services (YFS) Kenya and reduce teenage pregnancy from 15% to 10% by 2027.
Reduce unmet need for family planning needs: Reduce unmet family planning needs to at least to 10% for all women, married and unmarried and ensure commodity availability.
Increase domestic financing for health and RMNCAH at national and county levels: Advocate for the Government to honour the Abuja declaration to allocate 15% of the national budget towards health. Within the national health budget and county health budgets RMNCAHN allocation to desegregated and include 100% domestic financing for family planning commodities.
Strengthen and disaggregate RMNCAHN Data: Improve national, county, and sub-county data quality by ensuring data disaggregation by gender and age by 2028 to enable-responsive health programming.
Integral to achieving accelerated progress for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health is disruptive advocacy. As shared by Professor Ann Kihara, the president of the Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and PMNCH Board Member during the virtual CAAP meeting in December 2024:
"The SDG deadline is approaching faster than anticipated. Women's issues are crucial to the economy and development goals. We must adopt new approaches and take bold, disruptive actions to reach the SDG targets. When partnerships and networks are strengthened, they can accomplish much more than relying solely on financial resources to drive RMNCAHN initiatives.”
Such sentiments were further echoed by Senator Catherine Muyeka Mumma, who challenged partners to strengthen their strategic advocacy during partners’ first CAAP convening in August 2024.
"Incorporating age-appropriate sex education into school curricula and training medical professionals to better address adolescent health, as well as analyzing data like teenage pregnancies in the 10-14 age group, is essential for ensuring programmatic alignment in tackling RMNCAHN issues, such as teenage pregnancies." Senator Catherine Muyeka Mumma
With just five years left to 20230, partners in Kenya are motivated to ensure the improved health and well-being for all women, children, and adolescents. As summarized by HENNET’s by Sharon Musakali:
"The CAAP process is an excellent strategy for uniting partner efforts to tackle key RMNCAHN issues. It has been truly inspiring to listen and engage with representatives of counties that work directly with communities, who are crucial to our efforts. True impact can only be achieved if we turn commitment into tangible positive outcomes for the lives of mothers, children, and adolescents."
The CAAP implementation relies on partners, and we invite you to join efforts to achieve advocacy goals by collaborating on the listed and additional activities in the Plan!
Share your interest in joining the CAAP initiative with pmnch@who.org!
Relevant Documents