The Zambian government on Thursday called for strengthened partnerships to tackle maternal mortality rates which have remained high.
Minister of Health Sylvia Masebo said in a conference that in 2023 the country was still losing an average of 15 women per week due to preventable and manageable conditions.
She said in 2022, the number of maternal deaths stood at 734 while perinatal deaths stood at 7,735.
The conference is being held under the theme, “Increasing Partnerships in Maternal and Newborn Care to Improve the Quality of Clinical Midwifery Practice in Zambia.”
The theme, she said, highlights the individual and collective responsibilities of all partners toward improving the lives of women, newborns, children and adolescents in the country.
She said the government will ensure strengthened partnerships with midwives as they are frontline providers of women’s and newborns’ health care.
This, she added, will be done through the facilitation of effective provision of resources and creating a conducive environment as well as strengthening legislation for midwives.
The minister said the government has included 759 slots for midwives in the recruitment exercise of health workers this year, adding that more will be recruited next year.
