More pregnant women go to hospital

AS the world prepares to mark the International Day of the Midwife (IDM) 2017, health officers here said more expectant mothers now opt for deliveries in hospitals instead of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs).

Ms Amina Abdulkadir, the Chairperson of ‘Zanzibar Nurses Association (ZANA)’, said this at a press conference yesterday to mark the beginning of a week-long observation of the IDM held on every May 5 of each year.

She said that “More pregnant women are coming to hospitals; we are almost overwhelmed with the big number. At Mnazi Mmoja Hospital alone, we have 30 to 50 births daily! About 80 per cent of the pregnant women are now going to hospitals.”

Ms Abdulkadir, a nurse and midwife by profession, attributed the increasing number of women using hospitals to increased awareness, improved healthcare in the islands and government commitment including free services to pregnant women.

“We still have TBAs, fortunately most of them have undergone training. They are doing their job better than before, but we ask them to avoid handling complicated pregnancy cases,” she said, adding that an effort to have skilled labour has also been helpful in improving health services.

The ZANA chairperson said that the recent verification exercise of health staff, “we managed to identify some workers holding fake certificates and a single certificate being used by more than one person. At least three people have been expelled.” She said the demand for nurses and midwives remains high (with one nurse against 50 patients ratio).

Mr Mussa Rashid Mussa, the Chief Nursing Officer, said that due to concerted efforts in improving care to expectant mothers, maternal mortality has declined from 473/100,000 in 2007 to 117/100,000 in 2016 - while child mortality is now at 15/1000 down from 31/1000 in 2008.

Mr Mussa said that ZANA and other stakeholders have organised a series of events to mark the IDM to raise awareness “evaluate our work and inform policy makers about the need to increase support including funds to save pregnant women.”

At the press conference, Ms Valeria Rashid Haroub, the Chairperson of Zanzibar Midwives Association, asked the media to help encourage more expectant mothers to use hospitals, where death risks are minimised.

Ms Haroub said they have been also working hard to ensure that nurses and midwives never use harsh language while attending to the mothers and they have asked people with any evidence about unfriendly staff to come forward and report their grievances.