The Sunday News
FOR women, giving birth should be their greatest achievements not their greatest fear as opined by one scholar. It is common knowledge that by giving birth to children women play a crucial role in the creation and perpetuation of human kind.
It is against this background that we cringe when we come across reports that a number of women continue to die while giving birth not only in Zimbabwe, but worldwide.
Yesterday our sister paper, Chronicle carried on its front page a story that read that a total of 378 women died while giving birth in Zimbabwe since January this year which translates to a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of about 127 per 100 000 births.
Of these women it was reported that 66 died at home while 312 lost their lives at health institutions.
Despite the above figures, experts reportedly are of the view that the country’s MMR shows great strides in combating death of pregnant women but quickly point out that lack of ante natal care in most rural areas is driving the figure up.
In the story, one of the country’s respected gynaecologists and acting Mpilo Central chief executive officer, Professor Solwayo Ngwenya is quoted as saying that despite the MMR, the country had improved in terms of ensuring less women died during birth.
He called for more investment in the training and retraining of medical personnel and easy access to services.
We totally agree with Prof Ngwenya and also call on every stakeholder in the country’s health delivery system that there is a need to put our heads under the same thinking cap and make sure that we minimise the effects of MMR.
Is it not that Zimbabwe like every Sadc country made regional and national commitments to at least halve maternal deaths or ensure the rate is 70 per 100 000 births by 2030 as spelt by the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number three.
We believe the target is achievable as long as the country continues polishing up its interventionist policies that will make sure are refrained from continuing to ignore skilled birth, resulting in maternal mortality.
It is no secret that there are many women out there who continue to give birth at home without the assistance of skilled birth attendants, who are exclusively people with midwifery skills such as doctors, midwives and nurses who are trained to be proficient in their duties that call for the provision of competent care during pregnancy and childbirth.
There is also call on the authorities to continue with their awareness campaigns spelling out the dangers of home deliveries where the pregnant women are mostly assisted by what the World Health Organisation (WHO) call traditional birth attendants, the elderly women in communities who are viewed by their communities as wielding immeasurable traditional maternity skills.
However, discouraging women from delivering at home in some communities has been an arduous task as it is interpreted by some stakeholders especially the traditionalist as something that provides an important window to local customs, traditions and perceptions regarding child birth and newborn care.
There is therefore a need to look at all these issues but with a single goal to ensure that we continue to reduce the maternal mortality ratio in the country.
