Luli Hassan, 28 and mother of nine, died with her fetus on November 11 after an Ashe's spitting cobra bit her hand in Tana River County's Haroresa Village; Hola Referral Hospital lacked antivenom, providing only painkillers and fluids too late. Days earlier in Busia County, pregnant Deborah Wanyama suffered the same fate, shuttled between facilities without the vital drug before reaching Bungoma deceased.
Kenya loses about 4,000 lives yearly to snakebites, preventable with timely antivenom costing up to $155 per vial, but devolved county health systems face chronic shortages, prompting Senate probes and outrage over unfulfilled health promises as rainy seasons push snakes closer to homes.