Every hour, an estimated 20 women and more than 300 children under the age of five die worldwide from largely preventable causes linked to pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood illnesses.
In 2024 alone, approximately 4.9 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday, including 2.3 million newborns who did not survive their first month of life. While global efforts have helped reduce maternal and child deaths over the past two decades, progress has slowed significantly, with sub-Saharan Africa continuing to bear the heaviest burden.
The region accounts for nearly 58 per cent of all newborn deaths globally, and children born in fragile or conflict-affected settings face survival odds three times lower than those elsewhere.
Kenya is not immune to the crisis. According to the Ministry of Health, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications, many from causes that are preventable with timely access to skilled care.
Now, a team of Kenyan obstetricians, surgeons and maternal health experts is turning to cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality and telemedicine in a bid to reduce maternal deaths and ensure that more mothers survive childbirth.
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For Prof Moses Obimbo, an obstetrician and gynaecologist and the lead of the Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) Initiative, the mission is clear: "No mother should die giving birth."
The latest effort is the launch of the PPH School, an initiative aimed at training a new generation of healthcare workers through virtual reality, telepresence mentorship, and digital learning platforms to manage obstetric emergencies better.
The programme comes at a time when maternal deaths remain a major public health concern.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022, Kenya's maternal mortality ratio stands at approximately 355 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that about 260,000 women die annually from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, with the vast majority of deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
"One of the major drivers of maternal mortality is lack of sufficient healthcare workers and inadequate training," says Prof Obimbo.
The newly launched school seeks to address that challenge by rethinking how doctors, nurses and midwives are trained.
Traditionally, healthcare workers learn emergency procedures through classroom teaching, workshops and supervised practice in hospitals. But experts say this approach is often expensive, time-consuming and limited by access to patients and trainers.
The new model uses virtual reality technology similar to that used in aviation training.
"We have borrowed lessons from the airline industry," says Prof Obimbo.
"Pilots spend countless hours in simulation before flying real aircraft. They practise emergencies, turbulence and difficult situations repeatedly until their responses become automatic. We want to bring the same concept into medicine."
Using virtual reality headsets, trainees are immersed in realistic emergency scenarios involving mothers experiencing severe bleeding, pre-eclampsia, infections and other life-threatening complications.
Inside the simulated environment, they can repeatedly practise life-saving procedures without putting patients at risk.
"When a doctor encounters a real emergency, they are not seeing it for the first time," says Prof Obimbo. "They have already performed the procedure many times in a virtual environment."
Research has shown that regular simulation training improves retention of skills and helps healthcare workers respond more effectively during emergencies.
The initiative has already enrolled an inaugural class of 40 medical trainees drawn from institutions across Kenya.
But virtual reality is only part of the solution.
Another innovation attracting attention is a telepresence platform known as Proximie, which allows specialists to provide real-time guidance to healthcare workers in remote hospitals.
Dr Benjamin Njihia, a surgeon and PhD fellow in maternal health, describes the technology with a simple phrase: "Move the expertise, not the expert."
Kenya continues to face a shortage of specialist doctors, particularly in remote and underserved counties.
In many areas, expectant mothers are often attended by nurses, clinical officers and midwives who may be working without immediate access to specialist support.
The consequences can be deadly when complications arise.
Dr Njihia recalls a case involving a medical officer in Kibwezi who encountered a woman suffering a ruptured uterus and severe bleeding after delivery.
Previously, transferring the patient to a higher-level facility could have taken hours.
"It is likely that mother would not have survived," he says.
Instead, the doctor used the telepresence platform to connect with specialists based at Makueni County Referral Hospital.
Through live video guidance, the specialists helped him perform a complex subtotal hysterectomy—a procedure he had never done before.
"The mother survived. The baby survived. That is the impact technology can have," says Dr Njihia.
The technology is already being used in several public hospitals, including facilities in Makueni, Kilifi, Murang'a, Garissa and Mombasa.
Through a hub-and-spoke model, specialists based in referral hospitals can remotely support colleagues working in smaller county and sub-county facilities.
The approach is particularly valuable in counties that continue to record high maternal mortality rates and face shortages of obstetric specialists.
Beyond emergency support, the platform is transforming medical education.
Doctors can livestream procedures, receive mentorship and build digital libraries of surgical cases for future learning.
According to Dr Njihia, the technology creates opportunities for continuous learning while improving patient safety.
"When complications happen, they become teachable moments," he explains.
"You can review what happened, learn from it and train hundreds of other healthcare workers using the same experience."
The digital recordings can also be used to improve teamwork, communication and quality of care within hospitals.
Healthcare managers can identify delays, inefficiencies and equipment shortages that might otherwise go unnoticed.
For many healthcare workers, access to specialist mentorship has traditionally required expensive overseas training.
Prof Obimbo believes technology can significantly reduce those costs.
"Previously, a trainee might need to spend six months abroad learning a specialised skill," he says.
"With virtual reality and telepresence technology, much of that training can happen locally. The trainee may only need a short attachment overseas instead of several months."
The savings could be significant for both institutions and individual healthcare workers.
Equally important is the potential to democratise medical knowledge.
The same training content developed in Kenya can be shared across Africa, allowing healthcare workers in Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and beyond to access the same learning materials.
"We want to democratise expertise," says Prof Obimbo.
"It should not matter whether a healthcare worker is in Nairobi, Turkana or Garissa. Everyone should have access to the same quality of training."
The initiative arrives as Kenya intensifies efforts to reduce maternal deaths in line with global Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to reduce maternal mortality to fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030.
Although Kenya has made progress over the past two decades, experts warn that reaching the target will require innovative approaches and substantial investment in healthcare systems.
Technology alone will not solve every challenge.
Healthcare facilities still require skilled personnel, reliable internet connectivity, adequate equipment and functioning referral systems.
However, experts argue that digital innovations offer a practical way to bridge longstanding gaps in access to specialised care.
For Prof Obimbo, the goal is simple. "We cannot continue losing mothers to preventable causes," he says.
"Technology has transformed banking, communication and education. The time has come for it to transform maternal healthcare as well."