In 2023, 18-year-old Claire Njeri* lost her baby. The baby had suffered from asphyxia – a condition where the body doesn’t get enough oxygen, leading to unconsciousness and potentially death.
At just 16, Njeri went to a health facility in Baba Dogo, Nairobi, to give birth, but on arrival, nurses told her she had not dilated enough and the baby was not ready.
As she writhed in pain on the hospital bed, she felt the baby coming – but she had been left alone and didn’t know what to do. It had been eight long hours (from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm), and she was exhausted. Had it not been for her mother’s intervention, questioning why she had been left unattended, the nurses might not have come.