Govt monitoring maternal deaths

Herald Reporter
GOVERNMENT is now monitoring, on a weekly basis, the incidences of mothers who die while giving birth, a senior official has said.
Epidemiology and disease control director in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Portia Manangazira said the weekly surveillance would allow responsible authorities to identify areas of intervention early and possibly avert further loss of lives.

“Considering the high number of mothers who continue dying while giving birth, we felt that at national level we also need to monitor these deaths and establish the causes so that we intervene appropriately. We want to make sure that emergencies are reported early,” said Dr Manangazira.

She said previously, cases of mothers who die during child birth were brought to the Ministry on a monthly basis through institutional reports.

Comprehensive reports where produced after every five years through the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS).
“This did not help us much because all information would have been combined but we are saying the issue of mothers dying during childbirth has became so urgent that we really need to know what is happening on a weekly basis throughout the country,” she said.

According to the latest disease suveillance report, four women died due to pregnancy or related complications in the past three weeks.
According to the latest ZDHS (2010-2011) an estimated 960 women die from pregnancy or related complications from every 100 000 women who give birth. This figure further translates to about 10 women who die every day throughout the country.

Three delays namely delay in deciding to seek medical attention, delay to reach a health facility and delay in getting assistance at a health institution have been identified as contributory factors to maternal deaths.

In Zimbabwe, the rate at which pregnant women die has risen almost four times to 960 per 100 000 live births compared to 1999 figures.
The country’s target according to the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce the figures to 70 per 100 000 live births by the year 2015.
However, the figures continue to increase owing to HIV and Aids, which account for 25 percent of all maternal deaths.

Other causes in the top five are severe loss of blood, hypertension, sepsis and obstructed labour.