By Eddah Waithaka
A groundbreaking study has exposed how severe nurse shortages in Kenyan hospitals are crippling the quality of care for newborns, leaving infants vulnerable and mothers distressed.
The Harnessing Innovation in Global Health for Quality Care (HIGH-Q) project, a multi-disciplinary research initiative, found that overstretched nurses in public hospitals can only provide a third of the required care to sick and premature babies, with some handling more than 25 newborns per shift.
Despite global progress in reducing child mortality, sub-Saharan Africa still struggles with high neonatal deaths, pushing Kenya to intensify efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of reducing newborn fatalities.
While medical advancements like better technologies can help, the study emphasizes that nurses,who provide round-the-clock care are the backbone of neonatal survival.
A new study reveals Kenya’s newborn care crisis, nurses deliver just 30 minutes of care per baby per 12-hour shift, far below global standards, as severe staffing shortages leave mothers stressed and stigmatized from poor communication, while overworked nurses face burnout and provide only minimal care in overcrowded, poorly designed wards that compromise hygiene, safety, and dignity for all.
The study tested three promising interventions, adding more nurses slightly improved care quality though staffing remained inadequate, introducing ward assistants boosted cleanliness and infection control while providing crucial support to distressed mothers, and communication training helped nurses significantly improve their engagement with both parents and colleagues.
Prof. Mike English, the study’s lead investigator, warned, “Without more nurses and better-designed wards, improving newborn care will remain impossible.”
KEMRI Director General Prof. Elijah Songok called the findings a “wake-up call”, urging immediate action to boost staffing, redesign hospitals, and institutionalize support roles.
The study makes clear that technology alone can’t solve Kenya’s newborn care crisis, the country must urgently invest in its nursing workforce by deploying more nurses to neonatal units, redesigning hospitals for better efficiency and dignity, and making ward assistants and communication training standard practice to give every vulnerable baby a real fighting chance.
Without these changes, Kenya’s fight to reduce newborn deaths will remain an uphill battle.
