Gender 
Maternal deaths on retreat in South Africa's North West Province

The primary objective of the Safe Motherhood Initiative is to curb cases of maternal mortality through appropriate management and to improve the quality of maternity services, the local MEC for Health Dr. Molefi Sefularo informs. 

A new report noted that while a lot has been achieved in terms of preventing maternal deaths, it is still disturbing to note that some mothers are still dying from preventable deaths and other factors that indicate sub-standard care. 

To address this, the local Health Department says it will be launching Guidelines on Effective Management of Maternity Services during the course of November. "The department is confident that this will help address the problem of maternal deaths," a statement reads. The guidelines will be distributed to all districts and intensive training awareness workshop will be run to empower health workers to deliver quality maternal services. A standardised maternity case sheet will also be developed to ensure consistent delivery of maternal services as well as uniform quality standards, the Department informs.

The Department states that its policy is that all women should have access to basic maternity care during pregnancy and delivery. "The goal is to ultimately provide services which offer comprehensive maternal health services. Basic maternity care comprises quality antenatal care and safe delivery whether delivery takes place at home or in health institution. Efforts are being made to raise awareness about the importance of prenatal care attendance and to encourage women to seek assistance immediately."

Maternal death
In South Africa, maternal death affects 0,23% of all women giving birth (on a national level). Comparing to neighbour countries (Botswana 0,25%, Lesotho 0,61%, Mozambique 1,50%, Namibia 3,70%, Zambia 0,94%, Zimbabwe 5,70%), the maternal death rate therefore is low in relative terms in South Africa. Comparing to Tunisia (0,17% deaths), the African country having led the most wholehearted campaigns against maternal deaths, the numbers however show that more still can be achieved.

On a global scale, one woman dies every minute of every day of a pregnancy-related cause, adding up to more than 500.000 maternal deaths each year. Ninety-nine percent of these women die in the developing world. In some countries more than one in 20 women dies from a pregnancy-related cause.

Examples from countries like Tunisia and Botswana have shown that low cost efforts can have a substantial impact on the death toll. Currently, just over 90 percent of women giving birth in Tunisia are assisted by skilled professionals and the number of women dying during pregnancy has dropped by 80 percent during the last 23 years.

The financial cost of basic maternal and child health services that could prevent these problems is, on average, only US $3 per person per year in developing countries and the cost of maternal health services alone can be as little as US$ 2 per person per year, according to the World Bank.

Sources: Based on Northern Province MEC for Health, Mundo Negro, World Bank and Safe Motherhood

© afrol.com. Texts and graphics may be reproduced freely, under the condition that their origin is clearly referred to, see Conditions.    You can contact us at elin.nordhagen@afrol.com