High Rate of Maternal Deaths Worry Malawi's Lawmakers

The government has an obligation to ensure that no woman should die due to pregnancy-related causes, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Matthews Ngwale has said. Ngwale says that while neighbouring countries have drastically reduced maternal deaths, the country still lags behind as 439 out of every 100,000 women die due to pregnancy-related factors. He also noted that the country was reeling in the crisis of maternal mortalities one of whose leading causes is unsafe abortion because it was still stuck with almost 100-year-old colonial law. Over 141,000 women induce abortion every year, according to research conducted by the College of Medicine and Guttmacher Institute.