A DISTURBING report of a woman who died a few hours after giving birth to twins in a cornfield on a farm in Mhangura, a small mining settlement in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West province, has once again lifted the curtain on the state of maternal mortality in the country.
This again follows a national radio news report that another woman had also succumbed from bleeding on April 1 after a home delivery.
And this was not an April fool’s day joke.
The Mhangura woman, referred to as Sarudzai Musa (36), becomes just another statistic joining hundreds who die each year from unsafe home deliveries in the country.
“Saru(dzai) left six children in total,” a neighbour told this publication, saying the deceased was a local sex worker.
“She did not know she was carrying twins and never visited the clinic foe scans or checks as she did not have any ANC card.”
The terrifying deaths above have refocused the stark reality of maternal mortality in the country would have gone unnoticed if only First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa had not been advised of the bizarre incident and acted.
Through her Angel of Hope Foundation, the First Lady has stepped in and promised to take care of the twins.
The First Lady is a Merck Foundation health ambassador and works in partnership with the international philanthropic organization in various health programmes.
Medical experts believe a majority of home deliveries are happening in , especially in rural and out-of-the-way settlements like Mhangura, due to an interplay of factors like distance from health facilities.
“We have gone down on progress on waiting mothers” shelters . . . We need to resuscitate these,” says a health ministry official during the visit, explaining that the country is currently is experiencing a humanitarian crisis caused by a multiplicity of factors that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic that has visited the globe.
While the Mhangura woman’s story is bizarre and horrifying, “it must become less and less common if we work hard to deliver on our health system,” says another health worker who attended the scene with the First Lady.
Dr Clemence Tshuma, provincial medical director in neighbouring Mashonaland Central province, says pregnant mothers were not travelling and visiting medical facilities due to the Covid-19 lockdown measures that made transport a real challenge.
“We have seen an increase in home deliveries – with all the attendant consequences,” he observes.
These complications are exacerbated by some religious sects that still cling to the belief – “chitsidzo” – that home deliveries are best “although ministry is working hard to educate and raise awareness on the dangers,” he adds.
As well as motivating health authorities to act, the tragedy has touched conscience of many, among these being the government of Japan that has stepped in and partnered the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – the UN sexual and reproductive health agency- and embarked on a US$1,3 million grant project that will help save the lives of pregnant women like Sarudzai.
During a crisis – like these Covid-19 times- “it is often women and children who suffer the most”.
“Japan decided to provide support to help ensure that maternal services are provided and mothers and unborn babies receive the care they deserve,” Satoshi Tanaka, ambassador of Japan to Zimbabwe says.
The UNFPA has made maternal mortality a priority, with the agency’s country director Dr Esther Muia saying UNFPA is committed to do all it can to save lives through the project.
“This will help to avert preventable maternal and peri-natal deaths through strengthening the capacity of the central hospitals and maternity poly-clinics to provide effective and efficient comprehensive emergency obstetric and neo-natal care,” she explains.
Women groups in the sexual and reproductive health rights sector say the reports may just be a glimpse of the horrors playing out there.
Roselina Mudzerengi, programmes officer at Amnesty International’s country office, says the country needs to up its game in SHR.
“Distances of up to 10 km for pregnant women to access the nearest clinics are not encouraging,” she says, explaining this leaves women at risk.
“The maternal health care policy needs to be operationalised,” she explains, emphasizing health services for pregnant women should be free, accessible and hospitals well stocked.
According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2019, the country had a maternal mortality ratio of 462 deaths per 100 000 live births, one of the highest in the world, according to the UNFPA.
Unsafe home delivery – meaning without the help of a trained professional midwife in an appropriate and safe health facility – will still witness more unfortunate incidences like the Sarudzai case.
“But with the corona virus that has visited us, we need to act seriously,” says Tambudzai Juru, a midwife at a private clinic in the Avenues area of the capital.
It may have been too late for Sarudzai Musa but Juru says: “We need to respond and act!”
By Patrick Musira
