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Zimbabwe: Pregnancy Complications Surge in Binga - Official
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
10 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Harare
There has been an increase in pregnancy complications in Binga district after the training of traditional midwives was stopped a couple of years ago, a district health officer has said.
Binga district nursing officer Ms Rona Munkuli said the training was stopped in 2003 because the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare had reportedly run out of money.
Ms Munkuli said most of the midwives trained at that time had either died or were too old to carry out midwifery duties. "Traditional midwives are usually old women and our last training programme was five years ago. This means that we no longer have any able trained traditional midwives since most of them passed away due to old age and the remaining ones are too old to perform the duties," Ms Munkuli said.
She said midwives who are helping women deliver currently are not trained but learnt from their elders.
"We have seen a number of cases coming through our clinics where untrained midwives would have failed to handle complications during delivery. A lot more could be dying at their homes because of inaccessibility problems," Ms Munkuli said.
There are 11 clinics in the district that are situated far apart with the furthest distance to a health centre being about 70km.
Traditional midwives, just like skilled ones, should offer reproductive health information and services, including family planning that allows women to make a choice about spacing their next birth.
In case of pregnancy complications, midwives should also perform key saving functions for both the mother and the newborn.
In a statement released yesterday to mark the International Day of the Midwife, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children's Fund called for increased investment to train and retain midwives to achieve 2015 Millennium Development Goals.
By so doing, the country will address goals four and five, which aim to reduce the mortality rate among children under the age of five.
"UNFPA, Unicef and WHO renew their support for achieving quality midwifery care as a way of reducing maternal, child mortality rate and build health families, communities and nations," read part the statement.
The agencies said midwives are crucial not only at childbirth but also during and after pregnancy, hence the need to train traditional midwives on these services.
"Trained, empowered and supported midwives offer the most cost-effective and high quality path to maternal and newborn health," said Dr Bruce Campell, UNFPA country representative.
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The International Day of the Midwife is commemorated on May 5 annually.
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