President Lazarus Chakwera’s advisor on safe motherhood Dorothy Ngoma has called for concerted efforts from Malawians towards attaining zero maternal mortality rate as statistics indicate that six women die every day in Malawi due to pregnancy related issues.
Ngoma was speaking on Monday in Blantyre during an orientation session with journalists on how they can help in ending maternal deaths in the country.
She said just like any other Malawian, journalists have a crucial role to play in reaching president Chakwera’s vision of having zero maternal mortality rate hence the training which she said was to sharpen their writing skills.
She said statistics indicate that on average, six women are dying every day due to maternal related issues hence there should be concerted efforts to reduce the numbers to zero.
Ngoma further said the president believes that if people in the country can come together and fight for the lives of Malawian mothers, the country can easily attain the zero maternal mortality rate vision.
“Having six women dying per day, that is still a very high number and bad news. Our president wants to see a situation where we will be down to zero. Zero maternal mortality rate, no woman should die because of pregnancy, delivery and whatever.
“So, president Chakwera is saying everybody should do whatever contributes to having a country of no maternal deaths. There is need to join hands and make sure that our women are safe from such deaths,” said Ngoma.
Ngoma continued to say that other interventions on the matter include government’s introduction of youth friendly services where youths are trained on Sexual and Reproductive Health Services.
It is reported that youths are contributing 20% to the maternal mortality rate but Ngoma said the introduction of youth friendly services will see the percentage dropping, thereby reducing maternal deaths amongst youths.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2015 statistics, 439 women die per 100,000 women due to maternal related complications.
However, the country recently moved from position 3 to position 13 on cases of maternal deaths in Africa a development which Ngoma said is exciting but she added the president wishes to go further to at least position 20.
