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A British obstetrician, Dr Sophia Webster, is keen to help Zimbabwean women improve in reproductive health and has committed herself to fundraise for their cause. Dr Webster arrived in the country on Thursday representing Flight for Every Mother, an organisation she established 18 months ago. She stayed up to Saturday when she flew out to Botswana for a similar mission.
While in Bulawayo, she donated equipment to Mpilo Hospital, Pelandaba and Nkulumane Clinics, which she hopes will assist women in the city and also create awareness to women’s health issues during pregnancy.
Zimbabwe is part of her 25-country tour, which began in West Africa on 1 August and she is now left with visiting Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa.
“I am flying a Cessna 182 aircraft from the UK to all these African countries as both its pilot and an obstetrician. Many women in the world, and in particular in sub-Saharan Africa, die each year in childbirth,” said Dr Webster.
In an interview before her departure, she said women particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa were dying as a result of poor health facilities and that needed immediate attention. She said her tour was to create an awareness which should result in more resources being channelled towards saving women before and after child birth.
“This is a huge tragedy. Many women die due to massive bleeding, severe infections and complications associated with high blood pressure. All these things are preventable if given optimal resources.
“The factors that influence pregnancy health are numerous. It is a complicated equation which includes issues such as transport to hospital, baseline health levels, resources at the hospital and female empowerment,” she said.
In the countries she is visiting, Dr Webster speaks to front line medical and midwifery staff in order to understand issues. She offers them clinical skills and small donations of essential equipment, such as blood pressure monitors and also talking to government and non-governmental organisations about maternity care.
“I am so passionate about global women’s reproductive health and my dream is to see more safer and more equal chances of safer pregnancies in the world,” said Dr Webster.
In Africa, one woman in 39 risks dying from pregnancy complications, compared to one in 4000 elsewhere in the developed world.
Dr Webster said while visiting Mpilo Hospital, she was impressed to see charts on the walls on early warning signs of problematic pregnancy. She said this was a pro-active way of preventing the threat to both mother and child. Dr Webster donated blood pressure measuring equipment and midwifery packs which had stethoscopes, ambubags used to resuscitate newly born babies, gestation wheels and tape measures.
She challenged the public and business community to support healthcare in their communities and praised Zimbabwe for its high standards in medical care and literacy levels.
Dr Webster had a training visit to Mpilo Hospital in 2010.
The obstetrician noted that since 1990 maternal deaths had dropped by 47 percent though sadly 57,5 percent of global deaths occur in Africa.
Her affection for Africa began some years ago when she completed part of her medical training in South Africa. She then led medical training programmes organised by the Department for International Development (DfID) and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine as part of the UN Millenium Development Goal 5 to improve maternal health.
Dr Webster is affiliated to the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (Figo), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology who with the World Health Organisation are among her sponsors. She has also worked closely with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter