Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the funding entitled Reducing Maternal and Newborn Deaths in Kenya.

The 'Reducing Maternal and Newborn Deaths in Kenya' programme was a ten-year, £64.6 million intervention which ended in March 2023. The most recent Review in June 2021 found the programme to be effective in scaling up service delivery and scored it an A. The programme resulted in increased skilled birth attendance rate, reductions in still birth rate and helped reduce maternal deaths from 362 to 355 per 100,000 live births.

It also highlighted lessons learnt, including the need to scale up training in emergency obstetric and newborn care, and the importance of staff retention and establishment of supportive governance structures.