Global leaders must act urgently to ensure that safety and dignity in pregnancy and childbirth become automatic, integral parts of the maternal health care experience of all women.
On 18 September 2020, a harrowing video appeared on Twitter. It showed a woman, Jackline Faustina, giving birth on the road outside Nairobi’s Pumwani maternity hospital. The woman, it was said and later confirmed by city authorities, had been denied entry into the hospital. It was the second day of a ‘go-slow’ industrial action by hospital staff.
Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), the city agency in charge of delivering essential services to residents of Kenya’s capital, released a statement saying it “regrets the incident”. But an apology doesn't fix the problem. Neither does the public outcry that follows such incidents.
