Reuters: Kenya-Transforming Mandera County’s Deadly Reputation For Maternal Health

Photo Credit; @islamicrelief

For many women in Mandera County a hard to reach, insecure and arid part of North Eastern Kenya, the story of life from childhood to adulthood is one about sheer pain and struggle for survival.
As little girls, they undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), a painful carving out of the external genitalia that leaves them with lifelong physical and psychological scars. 
Most girls will be married off when barely into their teens, forcing them to drop out of school, their immature bodies thrust into the world of childbearing.
As a result, Mandera – just a two-hour flight from the dynamic, modern East African hub of Nairobi – has maternal mortality ratio of 3,795 deaths per 100,000 live births that surpasses that of wartime Sierra Leon (2000 deaths per 100,000 live births) as well as the Kenya’s national average (448 deaths per 100,000 live births).
My take:

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