On maternal healthcare, ours is a case of a people perishing for lack of knowledge

About three weeks ago, a young woman gave birth at Uhuru Park, a recreation ground in the middle of Nairobi, Kenya’s commercial and administrative capital city. Rebecca Atieno, 20, had immigrated to the city from her Kisumu County rural home, the way millions of other village youngsters do after high school to look for gainful employment.

By the time the baby came, poor Rebecca was homeless. She had not gained enough from her employment to afford decent shelter and had been pushed out of her rundown lodging, for which she had been paying a daily fee of Sh50, because she had just lost her job and could not pay.