Zambia Tackles Maternal Health Crisis: Launches $2.8 Million Initiative for Pregnant Women"

Millions more women suffer associated illnesses, that are aggravated by pregnancy, Anemia, Malaria, Cardiac disease, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, or Diabetes that can indirectly cause death or further disability for the woman or newborn. 

The World Health Organization estimates conservatively that 12.5 million women each year, are affected by these illnesses aggravated by their pregnancies.

Furthermore, the nonfatal consequences of obstetric complications and associated diseases can severely affect women's quality of life, fertility, and productivity, and can result in chronic reproductive morbidities that may become evident only long after delivery.

Maternal mortality is a sad event because the majority of the factors associated with it are preventable. It has a follow-up cost to society and the health of the baby, should the baby survive.

The Government working with its partners has put in measures to address the problem of maternal deaths.

To address this, the Zambian Government and World Vision Zambia launched a $2.8 million program focusing on Multiple micronutrient supplementation for Pregnant Women in Zambia.

The initiative aims to reach 329,378 pregnant women over 24 months in three provinces, namely Southern, Northern, and Lusaka addressing prevalent issues like high Anaemia rates.

The project also aims at building the capacity of health workers and community-based volunteers, to deliver the supplementary for 24 months.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, George Sinyangwe observed that Anaemia prevalence among Women of Reproductive Age is very high at 31 percent, and even higher at 41 percent among pregnant women. 

Dr. Sinyangwe says, while the Global target, is to reduce Anaemia by 50 percent from the levels that are prevailing in each country, Zambia needs to be reducing to levels of 15 percent and 20 percent in women of reproductive age and pregnant women respectively annually.

Speaking at the launch of the Multiple Micronutrients Supplementation, Dr. Sinyangwe said it is a well-known fact that good nutrition for mothers from pre-pregnancy, conception, and throughout the pregnancy period, is important for a positive pregnancy outcome. 

"The high prevalence levels of Anaemia among pregnant mothers is associated with poor nutrition and particularly micronutrient deficiencies, including iron among others and that a woman who is Anaemic is likely to give birth to a baby with low birth weight, which is a problem closely linked with newborn and infant morbidity and mortality," he said.

And Dr. Sinyangwe said the Zambia Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation program, is coming on board to contribute to finding effective solutions to tackling poor maternal nutrition that will be by providing pregnant mothers with Multiple Micronutrient Supplements, which will provide more nutrients in addition to iron and folic acid that address Anaemia. 

"Currently, pregnant women are only provided with only two supplements Iron and folic acid, which he said is not sufficient thus, the aim of the Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation Project is to provide various micronutrients through one tablet that contains 13-15 micronutrients and vitamins, including ferrous sulphate and folic acid, to pregnant women to boost their stores during the critical phase of their lives," he added.

World Vision Zambia National Director, John Hasse explained that the introduction and scale-up of multiple micronutrients as part of maternal nutrition programming in Zambia presents an opportunity to accelerate progress towards several sustainable development goals.

Mr. Hasse said World Vision will essentially be implementing a progressive project, that will focus on providing the government with information that will aid in decision-making to make the switch from ferrous sulphate and folic acid tablets ( IFA )to multiple micronutrients.

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This reporter met Mercy Zulu a 26-year-old, who is 7 months pregnant who is benefiting from the supplementation program.

Mercy who resides in Lusaka's John Howard area explained that since she started taking MMS, she feels very healthy.

"At first I was feeling dizzy, loss of appetite and I was very thin, but now I gained the proper weight, and I don’t have any health issues after I started taking MMS, "she said.

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Another one Agness Musonda 34, a Chawama resident said that in her previous pregnancies, she was facing several health issues, such as anemia, dizziness, vomiting, and loss of appetite. But since she started taking MMS in her fifth pregnancy; she feels, healthy and energetic.

She is happy with the benefit of the tablet.l gave birth to a healthy baby without any complications who weighed 4.6, through C-section because my baby was big.Am still taking the tablet.

"I can encourage my fellow women to take MMS, it has a lot of nutrients required for a pregnant woman to ensure safe pregnancy and delivery," she said.

"I Am asking World Vision to consider extending this program so that other pregnant women can benefit as I did, Am Healthy," She said.

According to the latest estimates released in a report by United Nations agencies last year, every two minutes, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth.

This report trends in Maternal Mortality (Trends in maternal mortality), reveals alarming setbacks for women’s health over recent years, as maternal deaths either increased or stagnated in nearly all regions of the world.

The report, which tracks maternal deaths nationally, regionally, and globally from 2000 to 2020, shows there were an estimated 287,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2020. 

In conclusion, there is a need for all to join forces to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal regarding the maternal mortality rate in Zambia.

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