Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
(26 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
1. Nixon Charo who is the father of Penina Zawadi Charo, a woman who died during child birth, paying his last respects
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 19 July 2026
2. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Nixon Charo, Parent:
++PARTIALLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 1, 3 AND 4++
"We expected our daughter to safely give birth. But the circumstances she found herself in during labor, led to her death. Penina started bleeding instead of getting labor pains."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
3. Various of funeral banner with the photo of Penina Zawadi Charo, as mourners weep around her coffin
4. Zawadi's mother, Esther Bendera weeping
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya - 7 August 2026
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Khatra Abdi, Director of Health at the Council of Governors: ++PARTIALLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 6, 7, 8 AND 9++
"Right now, as a country, we are not doing so well. Our figures are very high. We are at 355 per 100,000 life births. Forty-seven county governments, things are changing. We are doing so much in terms of intervention to reduce preventable maternal death. Like no mothers should bleed immediately after delivery. There is a drug called Carbetocin and that drug is now used across all the 47 county governments. and it is also available even at the last mile. At a dispensary where a mother can walk in and probably bleed."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
6. Zawadi's coffin being placed on the grave
7. Zawadi's mother crying
8. Mid of coffin going down
9. Charo looking at coffin going down
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 19 July 2026
10. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Esther Bendera, Parent:
++PARTIALLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 11 AND 12++
"At the moment, those who are going to give birth are dying in large numbers. I can only ask the government to equip these places so others can be saved. As for me, I have already lost. I can only ask that others be saved."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
11. Family members throwing soil into the grave
12. Drone of soil being shoveled into the grave
STORYLINE:
As Penina Zawadi was wheeled to the operating room for a Caesarean section, she gave her mother her jewelry for safekeeping, along with a reassuring word: She would have a safe delivery.
An hour later, a nurse handed Esther Bendera her newborn grandson. But her daughter did not return. Her family said the 29-year-old Zawadi bled heavily after birth and was sent to another hospital to have her uterus removed, a last-ditch measure. She spent several days in intensive care before dying on June 23.
“She was bleeding so much, you would think it was water gushing out,” Bendera recalled. “After the second surgery, she never opened her eyes again.”
She said Zawadi, who had been healthy in pregnancy, spent four hours bleeding at Malindi Hospital awaiting a referral to the larger facility in coastal Kenya, Kilifi County Referral Hospital, an hour's drive on a potholed road.
This is part of a series on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the world’s fastest-growing population and accounts for 70% of global maternal deaths. Around 180,000 pregnancy deaths are recorded every year across the continent.
The story of Zawadi, whose name means “gift” in Swahili, resonates with many families in Kenya’s largely rural Kilifi County, where maternal mortality rates are far higher than the national average. The deaths occur in the shadows of the area’s thriving tourism industry for foreigners and locals along the Indian Ocean’s white sands.
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Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
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(26 Aug 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
1. Nixon Charo who is the father of Penina Zawadi Charo, a woman who died during child birth, paying his last respects
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 19 July 2026
2. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Nixon Charo, Parent:
++PARTIALLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 1, 3 AND 4++
"We expected our daughter to safely give birth. But the circumstances she found herself in during labor, led to her death. Penina started bleeding instead of getting labor pains."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
3. Various of funeral banner with the photo of Penina Zawadi Charo, as mourners weep around her coffin
4. Zawadi's mother, Esther Bendera weeping
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nairobi, Kenya - 7 August 2026
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Khatra Abdi, Director of Health at the Council of Governors: ++PARTIALLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 6, 7, 8 AND 9++
"Right now, as a country, we are not doing so well. Our figures are very high. We are at 355 per 100,000 life births. Forty-seven county governments, things are changing. We are doing so much in terms of intervention to reduce preventable maternal death. Like no mothers should bleed immediately after delivery. There is a drug called Carbetocin and that drug is now used across all the 47 county governments. and it is also available even at the last mile. At a dispensary where a mother can walk in and probably bleed."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
6. Zawadi's coffin being placed on the grave
7. Zawadi's mother crying
8. Mid of coffin going down
9. Charo looking at coffin going down
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 19 July 2026
10. SOUNDBITE (Kiswahili) Esther Bendera, Parent:
++PARTIALLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 11 AND 12++
"At the moment, those who are going to give birth are dying in large numbers. I can only ask the government to equip these places so others can be saved. As for me, I have already lost. I can only ask that others be saved."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kilifi, Kenya - 18 July 2026
11. Family members throwing soil into the grave
12. Drone of soil being shoveled into the grave
STORYLINE:
As Penina Zawadi was wheeled to the operating room for a Caesarean section, she gave her mother her jewelry for safekeeping, along with a reassuring word: She would have a safe delivery.
An hour later, a nurse handed Esther Bendera her newborn grandson. But her daughter did not return. Her family said the 29-year-old Zawadi bled heavily after birth and was sent to another hospital to have her uterus removed, a last-ditch measure. She spent several days in intensive care before dying on June 23.
“She was bleeding so much, you would think it was water gushing out,” Bendera recalled. “After the second surgery, she never opened her eyes again.”
She said Zawadi, who had been healthy in pregnancy, spent four hours bleeding at Malindi Hospital awaiting a referral to the larger facility in coastal Kenya, Kilifi County Referral Hospital, an hour's drive on a potholed road.
This is part of a series on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the world’s fastest-growing population and accounts for 70% of global maternal deaths. Around 180,000 pregnancy deaths are recorded every year across the continent.
The story of Zawadi, whose name means “gift” in Swahili, resonates with many families in Kenya’s largely rural Kilifi County, where maternal mortality rates are far higher than the national average. The deaths occur in the shadows of the area’s thriving tourism industry for foreigners and locals along the Indian Ocean’s white sands.
Find out more about AP Archive: aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: instagram.com/APNews
You can license this story through AP Archive: aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7d9da7e579ce479887fb11fcd95ee09f
