M-PESA Foundation and Proximie Limited have established a Digital Operating Room at Kilifi County Referral Hospital to support emergency obstetric and neonatal care, targeting reductions in maternal and newborn deaths in Kilifi County.

In a statement dated July 8, 2026, the organisations said the digitised operating room will be implemented as a pilot for the next year under the Uzazi Salama Programme. The facility is intended to enable timely surgical interventions supported by technology, reducing the need for patients to travel long distances or be referred to other hospitals for specialised procedures.

The initiative comes as counties continue to invest in health infrastructure and digital solutions to improve outcomes, amid persistent gaps in access to specialist services, particularly in maternity and newborn care. Kilifi, a fast-growing coastal economy with a mix of rural and urban populations, has faced challenges related to 24-hour maternity coverage in some facilities, which can delay emergency interventions.

Patricia Ithau, Trustee, M-PESA Foundation, said the partnership is designed to extend specialised services closer to communities and relies on network connectivity to support remote collaboration during procedures. “Our collaboration with Proximie through this technology will strengthen the Uzazi Salama Programme by bringing communities closer to specialised health services. As M-Pesa Foundation, our commitment is to provide reliable network through our strong 4G and 5G technology by Safaricom which will power this tele-surgery solution and ensure seamless procedures without interruptions,” Ithau said.

According to the statement, the tele-surgery solution is expected to limit referrals by enabling “complex and specialised live procedures” while connecting surgeons at Kilifi County Referral Hospital with other practitioners in Kenya and internationally for skills transfer and case support.

Dr. Shannon Shibata-Germanos, Head of Global Health at Proximie, said Kilifi was selected based on maternal health indicators in the county and that the implementation has drawn in sector stakeholders. “The maternal health indicators in Kilifi are what led us to choose this county for the Digital Operating Room to curb instances of maternal and infant mortality. Uzazi Salama is an opportunity for us to plug in with innovative solutions at scale. We have garnered the support of key stakeholders such as the Surgical Society of Kenya to implement this programme. Our assurance is that patient data remains confidential with data protection a key aspect of this project,” she said.

The statement cited mortality indicators for Kilifi County, reporting a maternal mortality rate of 532 per 100,000 live births, attributed to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS). It also reported neonatal mortality at approximately 24 per 1,000 live births, infant mortality at 34 per 1,000, and under-five mortality at 40 per 1,000. The organisations said limited access to 24-hour maternity services in some facilities contributes to delays in emergency care.

For Kenya’s healthcare market, the project illustrates how private-sector and philanthropic funding is increasingly being paired with digital health infrastructure to address specialist shortages and improve service quality outside major urban centres. If the pilot demonstrates reduced referrals and improved clinical outcomes, it could strengthen the case for similar deployments in other counties, while raising questions on long-term operating costs, workforce training, and data governance as digital systems scale.

Uzazi Salama, according to the statement, was launched in 2024 and expanded from Kilifi South and Magarini to all sub-counties in Kilifi County. The partners said the digital operating room is intended to expand access to reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health services supported by the programme.

Proximie describes itself as a health technology company that digitises operating rooms using artificial intelligence, cloud-based software and augmented reality, connecting surgical teams to support operations remotely. The partners did not disclose the cost of the digital operating room or the funding structure for the pilot.

Pumwani Maternity Hospital has established an upgraded newborn unit in Nairobi, adding new technology and infrastructure—including a central heating system—to address hypothermia among newborns, according to a press release dated June 10, 2026.

The hospital, which said it delivers about 80 to 90 babies daily and is marking its 100th anniversary this year, stated that the modernisation is intended to strengthen neonatal care at what it described as Kenya’s largest maternity facility and a key referral point for complicated cases. The press release also noted that Nairobi accounts for about 10% of births in Kenya, positioning interventions at Pumwani as significant for maternal and newborn outcomes beyond the facility.

Hypothermia—when newborns are unable to regulate their body temperature—has been a longstanding clinical challenge at the hospital. Dr Chris Mugambi, Pumwani Maternity Hospital’s Medical Superintendent and a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, described the condition as “an invisible enemy” for newborns at the facility.

Dr Mugambi said the installation of the central heating system has already delivered measurable gains. “The central heating component has enabled us to achieve above 75 per cent improvement in thermal regulation outcomes, saving infant lives on the backdrop of stretched demand,” he said.

The initiative was supported through a partnership involving the Nairobi City County Government, Pumwani Maternity Hospital and Safaricom Foundation-linked programmes, the statement said. Safaricom Foundation Chairman Joseph Ogutu said the intervention forms part of the Uzazi Salama programme, which he said is aligned to the World Health Organization’s Every Woman, Every Newborn, Everywhere (EWENE) action plan.

“We are absolutely delighted at the impact of this partnership with the Nairobi County Government and Pumwani Maternity Hospital, enabling us to improve the health and well-being of women and children in our country by ending preventable deaths as we journey towards the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Ogutu said.

Funding for the heating component was provided by the M-Pesa Foundation, which the press release said put in KES 13 million towards the installation of the central heating system in the newborn unit. The statement linked the project to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), citing its role in strengthening referral healthcare services.

Nairobi City County Chief Officer for Medical Services Maryam Dahir said the upgraded unit is expected to improve maternal and newborn care at a facility that the press release said accounts for about 10% of the country’s total births. “This means we are responsible for approximately one in every ten maternal cases in Kenya,” she said.

Dahir added that the county views partner support as part of broader health system strengthening efforts. “As a county, we receive this with great gratitude and we look forward to continued partnership, and where possible, cascading similar support to other facilities within the city,” she said.

For Kenya’s health sector and its financing landscape, the project underscores the growing role of public-private partnerships and philanthropic capital in bridging gaps in critical hospital infrastructure, particularly in high-volume public facilities. Thermal regulation is a basic but often under-resourced component of neonatal care, and Pumwani’s scale—80 to 90 deliveries a day, according to the statement—means efficiency gains can translate into system-level impact if replicated.

Next, county health leaders indicated interest in extending similar support to other facilities within Nairobi. Future milestones will likely include monitoring clinical outcomes from the upgraded unit and assessing whether comparable heating and equipment interventions can be deployed across other maternity and newborn units in the county’s referral network.

Murang’a County Referral Hospital hosted a fistula screening and treatment camp that mobilised 449 women and girls for screening, counselling, physiotherapy and corrective surgery, according to a press release dated April 18, 2026. The camp was a collaboration between the M-Pesa Foundation, the Ministry of Health and the Murang’a County Government, supported by clinical partners including the Flying Doctors and Amref Health Africa.

The organisers said the intervention comes against what they described as a national burden of about 120,000 women living with untreated obstetric fistula, citing shortages of trained fistula surgeons, delayed access to emergency obstetric care and complications during childbirth as key barriers to reducing the caseload.

Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury commonly linked to prolonged or obstructed labour and can result in chronic incontinence and other complications. Beyond the health impact, the condition can lead to stigma and economic exclusion—factors that often affect household incomes and productivity, and increase demand for public health services.

Christine Muthengi, a vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) nurse and trainer, said some patients at the Murang’a camp had lived with the condition for decades, with cases dating back to 1991. She linked long-term untreated cases to social outcomes that include abandonment and isolation.

“Obstetric fistula is a devastating childbirth injury that causes chronic incontinence, deep physical trauma and social isolation, from constant leakage to resultant foul smell, Women and girls are forced into hiding for years, to save them from shame,” Ms Muthengi said.

Ms Muthengi added that stigma remains a major obstacle to treatment, saying many patients conceal their condition and delay seeking medical care. The press release also pointed to gaps such as misdiagnosis and delays in accessing emergency obstetric services as contributing risk factors.

Despite Murang’a County reporting a 96% skilled birth attendance rate and a teenage pregnancy rate of 7%, the statement said underlying challenges—such as poverty and early and unintended pregnancies among adolescents—can still increase the risk of obstetric fistula.

The M-Pesa Foundation said it invested KES 8.1 million in the Murang’a initiative, which it described as part of a wider KES 213 million commitment towards fistula interventions. According to the Foundation, that funding has enabled more than 1,500 women in “high-burden counties” to access treatment.

Patricia Ithau, trustee at M-Pesa Foundation, said the programme aims to reduce delays to care and restore health outcomes for affected patients. “No woman should have to suffer in silence. Fistula surgery may seem like a simple procedure, but the transformation it brings to a woman’s dignity, health and future is profound,” Ms Ithau said.

For Kenya’s health sector, initiatives that bundle screening, surgical camps and post-operative support can help counties manage backlogs, but they also highlight structural constraints in specialist capacity and referral systems. If scaled and paired with stronger emergency obstetric care, such programmes could reduce long-term costs associated with chronic complications and social support needs, particularly in public facilities.

The partners did not provide a timeline for the next camp in the statement, but positioned the Murang’a intervention as part of longer-term efforts to build capacity to manage fistula cases and increase access to treatment in counties with high demand.