NAIROBI — The soft cries of a newborn yet to find their full range emanate from the maternity ward of the Imara Health Care Center, located in the middle of the Mukuru kwa Njenga slum of east Nairobi. Only hours old, the baby girl will remain nameless until extended family visit and name the newborn together, as is tradition in Kenya.
Kenya
Nairobi
Nairobi
Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum
One of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya.
Population: 113,032 people (2017, estimate)
Population density: 486 people per acre (27x higher than Nairobi city average)
Average monthly household income: 12,000 KSh (118 USD)
Map of Nairobi and Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum
Until then, she lies swaddled in a pale pink blanket and in the arms of her mother, 20-year-old Roslyn Kerubo. She gave birth overnight in the two-story health center with its crumbling green paint and iron-barred windows, and she has a 4-year-old waiting at home.
Kerubo explained that she’d been putting money aside for over five years in order to have a safety net, should she require medical services just like this.
But with free maternal health care in Kenya, the question is why she needed to save to give birth at all.
Roslyn Kerubo with her newborn daughter at Imara health care center.