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Ivan Zhakata and Anesu January
The Ministry of Health and Child Care is pushing for increased investment in health workforce retention, procurement of essential medical supplies, and improved infrastructure for maternal health services, an official has said.
Speaking during a policy briefing on maternal mortality, Dr Chipo Chimamise, national maternal health officer in the Ministry of Health’s Family Health Department said there is need to improve maternal care across all levels of healthcare to stop all preventable deaths during childbirth.
The programme was organised by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat), Vital Strategies, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Data for Health Initiative.
She said maternal deaths remain high despite ongoing efforts to strengthen emergency obstetric care.
Dr Chimamise said the national maternal and peri-natal death surveillance and response committee regularly reviews cases and provides recommendations.
“We have trained healthcare workers under programmes like the Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) initiative, but high staff turnover means facilities are constantly losing skilled personnel.
“With increased investment in health workforce retention, we should see a change as a country,” said Dr Chimamise.
Online Reporter