Postpartum depression affects an estimated one in seven women globally yet in Kenya, most cases go unrecognised. Women’s distress is frequently normalised as part of motherhood, missed by overstretched health workers, or concealed by women who fear judgement or lack the language to name what they are experiencing.
This scoping review goes beyond prevalence data to examine how social norms, health system gaps, stigma, and policy contexts shape whether women’s distress is identified and responded to and what a meaningful systemic response would require.
