High Maternal Deaths in Zimbabwe?

High maternal deaths still a matter of concern in Zimbabwe

Recently, a local newspaper, The Chronicle, produced an articled that discussed the social impact of maternal. The article entitled ' the social impact of maternal death", highlighted just how much losing mothers to maternal deaths affects the families left behind. in the article The husband, Chanunorwa Makombe, details how his wife dies and how her death has greatly affected his family including their daughter.

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"Her death cost me all I had. I pray that one day I find strength to forgive the Mpilo staff for denying my daughter a chance to have a mother in her lifetime,” said Makombe, his breaking voice betraying his bravado......I miss her every day and the trauma her death caused me and the family will be forever felt. It’s been three years and I still can’t stomach the pain. I wonder what I’ll tell my daughter when she starts demanding the truth........My heavily pregnant wife bled for more than seven hours on that fateful day. "

The World Health Organisation defines maternal mortality as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.
According to the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), Zimbabwe’s maternal mortality rate stands at 614 deaths per every 100,000 live births and hemorrhage has been identified as the leading cause of maternal death.
Zimbabwe’s maternal mortality rate stood at 960 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010, according to the World Bank

So not only did his wife add to Zimbabwe’s high maternal mortality rate statistics, but to him she stands as proof of a growing trend — women who die due to negligence.

Makombe, took his wife's death to the court and fter the five-month enquiry, the coroner Magistrate Chrispen Mberewere concluded that Mutungwazi’s death could have been avoided.

"It’s the excessive loss of blood prior to the operation that stands out as the major cause of Sungirai’s death. The cause of delay was the system of prioritising emergencies being done at Mpilo,” said magistrate Mberewere in his ruling. another doctor , Dr Partson Maphosa, who attended to Mutungwazi, was one of the witnesses during the inquest and he said Mutungwazi died due to negligence.

Deficiencies in the health sector, both at Mpilo and in the national health delivery system in the health sector were identified as the likely cause in the article. The article also reported that a midwife employed at Mpilo who spoke on condition of anonymity said they are forced to work with what they have as the government is failing to sustain the maternity ward. she was quoted as saying,
“Nothing seems to be properly working in the maternity ward. It’s either the ventilator or some other machinery is down, or there is no blood set aside for emergencies. We’ve accepted these conditions and the least we can do with limited resources is to save lives,” she added

It is clear that more may be needed to be done, to save mothers. after all, as commented by Dr Labod in the article, mothers are an essential part of every human being and no one can sacrifice for a child’s well-being like mothers do. Babies need to breastfeed for two years and that means the loss of a mother jeopardises one’s health development,
Extracted from the chronicle http://www.chronicle.co.zw/social-impact-of-maternal-deaths/ 
for more on this article, follow the link above.


This article points to the need for maternal deaths to be treated as a serious problem and for the need to put pregnant mothers health first to prevent unnecessarily loss of life.

below are resources found in our library that look at maternal deaths

1. Reproductive health matters journal- special issues on safe motherghood initiatives: critical issues
2. Reproductive health matters journal- vol. 15 no.30 nov. 2007. maternal mortality and morbidity: is pregnancy getting safer for women?
3. Safer childbirth? a critical history of maternity care by M Tew
4. The state of the world's children 2009: maternal and newborn health-by  UNICEF
5. Turning the tide: safe motherhood: a district action manual by M feuerstein
6. The labour ward handbook by L C Edozien
7. Risk and choice in maternity care : an internal perspective by A symon
8. A community based study of maternal mortality in Zimbabwe: a research report by M T Mbizvo and others.