Throughout Kenya’s history, from colonial times, local and central governments have claimed to pursue policies which placed a high degree of importance on maternal and child health and well being, always described as fundamental to the welfare of any community. During the first decade of Moi’s rule both local and central government made many pronouncements regarding the pivotal place of maternal and child well being in the city of Nairobi as in the whole country. However, actual implementation was always far behind declared policy. This paper will represent the findings of research which basically continues and builds upon earlier research on maternal and child welfare in Nairobi during colonial and Kenyatta regimes. Focus will be on the decade of 1978-88, when the growing HIV/AIDS was treated evasively, before it had to be declared a national disaster. I argue that the colonial regime laid down the basis of maternal and child welfare policy and care in Nairobi, that the Kenyatta regime initially greatly expanded this programme but that from the last years of Kenyatta’s rule, and throughout the Moi years trends declined sharply all the time. The main excuse given was the deteriorating economic and financial conditions in the country. The onset of recession and ultimately the increasing external debt began to have an impact by making Kenya vulnerable to donor pressure to adopt structural adjustment programmes which cut down on government spending on social development. Infrastructure laid down in good times was allowed practically to collapse while sustained rural urban migration, naturally most acutely felt in Nairobi put the severest strain on efforts at implementation of maternal and child welfare programmes.