Reduced maternal, perinatal deaths in Kasenengwa impress MoH

THE Ministry of Health is impressed with the reduced number of mothers dying in child birth in Kasenengwa District in Eastern Province.Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Kennedy Malama has commended the Kasenengwa health office for its efforts in reducing maternal and perinatal mortalities in the district.ZANIS reports that Dr Malama who visited Kasenengwa yesterday said the district has this year only recorded 3 deaths, which he described as an improvement from what used to happen in the past.“It is clear that efforts are being made to reduce maternal deaths and our teams are putting focus on reducing perinatal mortalities. We want every Zambian to have a healthy and productive family,” the PS said when he toured Kasenengwa Zonal Health Center Mothers’ shelter.Dr Malama is particularly impressed that after being created into a district, the health sector has performed well in the area of achieving reduced maternal deaths.“So here in Kasenengwa, it’s gratifying that this district despite being new is making progress. We have noted that this year it has recorded three maternal deaths but this is an improvement when you look at previous years,” he said.Kasenengwa District has been in existence for only 17 months, after being separated from Chipata City in 2019.The PS further said the Ministry of Health seeks to provide timely maternal care to expectant mothers so as to prevent maternal and perinatal deaths.At the time of the PS is visit at Kasenengwa Zonal health facility mothers’ shelter, an expectant mother Sarah Ziwa said she is happy with the timely maternal health care she is able to receive while staying the shelter.“The goodness that I have found by being at the mothers’ shelter is that it is easier to be attended to, once complications occur. Most women come from far places and if they are not found at the mothers’ shelter and complications occur it’s usually not easy to reach in time and sometimes the baby or the mother or both die before getting to the nearest health center,” she said.Another expectant mother Vita Phiri said being at the shelter helped safeguard the wellbeing of both the mother and the unborn child.“The benefit I have seen in being at the mothers’ shelter is that sometimes during pregnancy blood levels get low, so the medical personnel at the health facility easily help once the blood is low,” she said.Ms Phiri further added that the shelter provided some security in case one developed complications during child birth, the medical personnel would easily make a decision that would help save both the child and mother’s lives.The women have advised other expectant mothers to make use of such maternal health services such as mothers’ shelter for their safety and that of their unborn child.Ministry of Health PS, Dr Malama is on six day tour of Eastern Province as part of the ministry’s routine support focusing on service delivery in the continuum of care and to appreciate some of the achievements and challenges the health system in the province is facing. The post Reduced maternal, perinatal deaths in Kasenengwa impress MoH appeared first on The Lusaka Sun.