US govt scales up Maternal Child Health in Zambia

THERE is an accepted norm worldwide that the health and well-being of any community starts with the health and well-being of mothers. Without healthy mothers to nourish the society, a nation cannot thrive.

Historically, Zambia has had serious challenges in the provision of good quality maternal healthcare with some of the remotest parts of the country yearning for the services but in recent decades, the nation has recorded great improvements towards achieving safe motherhood.

The strides posted so far have seen the reduction of maternal mortality from 591 per 1000 live births to 398 per 1000 live births as of 2014, yet more still needs to be done to attain optimal healthcare considering that unsafe abortion which accounts for 30 percent of women deaths in Zambia every year, is still rife.

Safe motherhood consists of a series of initiatives designed to ensure that women receive high-quality gynecological, family planning, prenatal, delivery and post-delivery care to achieve the finest health for the mother, fetus and infant during pregnancy, childbirth and after delivery.

In all the efforts to promote the health and well-being of mothers in Zambia, military health facilities have played a key role in reaching out to the masses and keeping mothers alive through the provision of services such as antenatal and postnatal care, birth plans, and access to deliveries.

Therefore, the construction of a maternity block, pharmacy, laboratory, and mothers’ waiting shelter at Kalewa Barracks in Ndola with the help of the US government under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) at a cost of nearly US$1 million, will scale up safe motherhood.

The new facilities at Kalewa Garrison that were commissioned recently, have dedicated rooms for specialised activities to enhance prevention, care, and treatment.

The maternity wing, comprises a delivery room, pre and post-natal wards, baby nursery, registry, an office, screening and sore rooms, laundry, shower and toilets, as well as a spacious room to be used for maternal child health (MCH) training activities for mothers.

The facility will provide effective health services to expecting mothers which include pre and post-natal services, baby care after delivery, and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMCT).

Currently, Kalewa clinic serves a population of about 10, 000 from within the cantonment and surrounding areas, and the new facility is expected to increase the demand for healthcare which will also translate into reduced referrals to Ndola Teaching Hospital (NTH).

“The facilities are designated to provide equitable and sustainable service to all service personnel, their families and the civilian population residing in the vicinity and outlying areas,” says Defense Permanent Secretary Stardy Mwale.

Generally, erratic transport in most parts of the country especially from the furthest point to health facilities, has been one of the factors leading to women delivering at home when the pregnancies are due even if they are enrolled at the clinics.

With adequate space to accommodate 10 sleeping beds, a shower, toilets and office for the caretaker, the mothers' waiting shelter will give an opportunity to women from distant places to wait comfortably for the due date of deliver under the care of trained health personnel.

Albertina Mwanza is a resident of Pamodzi Township and she shares her experience, “I had serious challenges when the pregnancy for my second child was due five years ago. I started experiencing labour pains on the fateful day at around midnight, we could not afford to pay for a taxi from home to Ndola Teaching Hospital for delivery because usually, taxi fares are so high during awkward hours."

“It was a very painful experience such that I would have died especially that the people who attended to me at that time were not medical experts but thank God, I delivered at home,” she says.

Ms Mwanza says the modern maternity wing at Kalewa Barracks is the answer to the many challenges women face regarding maternal health in the catchment area.

In addition to the modern maternity block, a pharmacy has been constructed as an annex to the existing clinic for proper storage and dispensing of drugs.

The pharmacy consists of a big air conditioned room for drug storage, a separate room for direct dispensing of drugs to patients, an Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) room for records and dispensing of Antiretroviral Drugs (ARVs), an office, toilets and waiting area.

To mitigate the delays in initiating medication as a result of laboratory tests that were previously done on referral basis, a fully furnished container has been installed on site to process a number of tests including HIV/AIDS up to CD4.

The American government has pumped in about $3 billion in efforts to combat HIV/AIDS under the PEPFAR initiative since 2004, with the 2017 allocation for the country’s operations increasing to $415 million from $359 million in 2016.

As a result of this funding, most people have been tested for HIV, which has enabled them to know their status, with more than 700, 000 currently on ART.

US Ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz says the goal of the two governments is to get to the point where 90 percent of Zambians know their HIV status, and 90 percent of those are on treatment while 90 percent must be virally suppressed.

“That is our goal and we are not very far away, hopefully in a few years time we will reach that goal,” he says.

Mr Schultz says the Kalewa facilities will ensure effective health service delivery for the women in uniform.

“Nothing is more important for the American and Zambian governments than keeping our men and women in uniform healthy. This facility will help to decongest other health facilities including NTH.”

“Expectant mothers will now be coming to deliver under the care of trained health professions here which will help not only to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV but also help serve mothers and reduce child mortality rates,” he says.

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