THE government is planning to reduce the training period for midwives to 18 months from two years to ensure a steady supply of skilled health personal especially in rural areas, a Cabinet minister has said.
Health and Child Care minister Douglas Mombeshora revealed this in Parliament during question and answer session last week.
He said government had also increased the number of trainee midwives.
“This is a long-term plan because it will take two years and we want to reduce it to one-and-a-half years so that we can churn out a lot of midwives to be able to take care of our women who need to deliver at the health facilities,” he said.
“We are also improving the equipment, especially to deal with caesarean section. We need to equip our hospitals, especially our district hospitals.”
Mombeshora also revealed that the government had acquired more than 10 anaesthetic machines for rural hospitals with maternity wards.
In urban settings, Mombeshora said most of the facilities were better equipped, but they were still working on improving the equipment.
He also said they were addressing the critical blood shortage with Treasury releasing funds for that purpose.
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“We also have a challenge of blood supply and I am glad to say Treasury has released some funds to make sure that blood and blood products can be processed and are availed to women in need because one of the largest cause of mortality for women is postpartum haemorrhage and we are addressing this in these various ways,” Mombeshora said.
The State of the World’s Midwifery Report for 2024 highlights that investment in the midwifery workforce yields significant returns in terms of improved health and social outcomes.
Midwife-delivered interventions reduce mortality rates by about two-thirds. In the East and Southern African region, this translates to 1,2 million lives saved per year by 2035.
Although still high, through investments by government and its funding partners, maternal mortality has reduced from 525 per 100 000 live births in 2012 to 362/100 000 in 2022.
