NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 13 – In Vihiga County, Thalia Psychotherapy and the Dutch Albert Schweitzer Foundation are working together to ensure mothers who lose their babies receive the emotional support they deserve.
For most expectant mothers, the months leading up to childbirth are filled with anticipation. There are baby clothes to buy, names to choose and families eagerly awaiting a new arrival.
But for some mothers, that journey ends in unimaginable heartbreak.
They go through childbirth, only to leave hospital without the baby they had spent months preparing to welcome.
The physical pain may gradually fade, but the emotional scars can remain for years.
And too often, these mothers are expected to grieve quietly.
The silent burden of stillbirth
According to United Nations estimates, approximately 24,798 babies were stillborn in Kenya in 2023. That is about 68 babies every day.
Behind these numbers are families dealing with loss, sometimes without the emotional support they need.
While considerable attention goes towards preventing stillbirths and improving maternity services, what happens to mothers after losing their babies receives far less attention.
Some experience prolonged grief, anxiety, depression or emotional trauma. Others struggle with guilt, isolation and uncomfortable questions from relatives.
Well-meaning comments such as “you can always try again” may only deepen the pain.
For many mothers, the hardest part begins after leaving hospital, when medical attention has ended but the grief remains.
A partnership bringing hope to Vihiga
In Vihiga County, Thalia Psychotherapy, through its Maisha Mothers programme, is working with the Netherlands-based Albert Schweitzer Foundation to change this experience.
The foundation is supporting an initiative titled Healing After Loss: A Stillbirth Support Pathway in Public Clinics, designed to make emotional care part of routine maternal healthcare.
The approach is both practical and compassionate.
Healthcare workers will be equipped to recognise emotional distress and offer immediate support following stillbirth. Mothers will receive follow-up contact within seven days, through phone calls or text messages, while those requiring additional help will be connected to professional counsellors.
For a grieving mother, something as simple as a phone call asking how she is coping could make a meaningful difference.
It is a reminder that her wellbeing still matters.
Making mental health part of maternal care
The project is championed by Mercy Mwende, a psychologist and Chief Operating Officer at Thalia Psychotherapy, who has been recognised by the Albert Schweitzer Foundation as a health pioneer.
Through Maisha Mothers, Thalia Psychotherapy is working to make mental healthcare accessible to women by integrating emotional support into existing health facilities and community systems.
The collaboration demonstrates how locally developed solutions, supported by international partners, can address healthcare challenges without requiring entirely new systems.
Rather than establishing separate services, the initiative seeks to strengthen the care already available to mothers.
It is an approach that could offer valuable lessons for other counties and communities across Africa.
Beyond the hospital walls
The initiative will also be highlighted during a maternal health outreach in Vihiga County, where approximately 3,000 mothers are expected to access various health and wellbeing services.
Maisha Mothers will use the gathering to raise awareness about stillbirth, challenge stigma and encourage families to support mothers experiencing pregnancy loss.
The goal is not to make grieving mothers relive their experiences publicly, but to help communities understand that emotional recovery deserves the same attention as physical recovery.
For the Albert Schweitzer Foundation and Thalia Psychotherapy, the partnership represents an opportunity to create lasting change in how maternal healthcare responds to loss.
For the mothers themselves, its value is deeply personal.
A nurse who listens. A counsellor who understands. A phone call when everyone else has stopped asking how they are doing.
Sometimes, meaningful change begins with the simplest acts of compassion.
Because a mother does not stop being a mother when her baby dies. And the care she receives should not end there either.
