RHHA Media
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
Whilst Zimbabwe has managed to reduce maternal mortality from 651 in 2010 to 362 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2022, the figure is still too high as no woman should die whilst giving birth.
The call was made by the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora as he added reduction of maternal mortality was one of the county’s International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) commitments.
Minister Mombeshora was speaking on Monday in Harare, during the High Level Meeting on the ICPD Programme of Action (PoA) and the launch of the 2024 State of the World Population Report.
The meeting was held almost 30 years after the landmark ICPD conference in Cairo, Egypt, which was set out to achieve the world in which people lived longer, healthier lives and have more rights and choices than ever before.
At the inaugural ICPD conference, 179 member states including Zimbabwe, agreed to the visionary PoA, which recognised sexual and reproductive health, women’s empowerment and gender equality as cornerstones of sustainable development.
Minister Mombeshora said the High Level Meeting was meant “to take stock, to celebrate our achievements and reflect business of ICPD.”
“Today we stand proud as Zimbabweans, as we have been able to score some key achievements on our ICPD commitments. Allow me to recap a few of the major achievements.
“Zimbabwe reduced maternal mortality from 651 to 2010 to 362 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2022. “In simple terms, we have reduced the number of women dying due to pregnancy child birth related issues from about seven to four per day, but this is still too high, no woman should die whilst giving birth.
“This is a major achievement and is a result of government and its partners investing in strengthening the health system is Zimbabwe. It is also an affirmation to our commitment to ensure that no women should die whilst giving life. We need to continue in this positive trajectory,” said Minister Mombeshora.
He added, “the government has stepped up budget allocation for family planning as part of increased financing for contraceptives using our domestic resources; we have invested US$3 million in the last two years and have already started procurement of contraceptives for this year.
“As a result of government’s commitment and investment, Zimbabwe became the first country under the UNFPA supplies global partnership to receive funding to complement government’s investment in family planning as recognition of the investment done by the government.
“We will continue using national budget processes, increasing domestic financing and exploring new and innovative financing mechanism to ensure full effective and accelerated implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action.”
He also revealed that the government is currently working on a national health insurance scheme which will ensure reduce catastrophic health spending by our people.
Minister Mombeshora further revealed that despite other successes, there was still a lot that needs to be done, saying, “we still have some unfinished business.”
“As you may be aware, we currently grappling with the problem of high adolescent pregnancies. More needs to be done for the adolescent and youths, who constitute the bulk of our population so that we are also able to harness the demographic dividends.”
He said it was crucial to ensure investment in education, health, social development and promoting youth engagement in relevant development and economic issues.
Minister Mombeshora further revealed that the ICPD sits hand in glove with many of the country’s national strategies, such as the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and the National Health Strategy.
And he said the ICPD “calls for women’s reproductive health and rights to take centre stage in national and global development efforts. It also recognizes that reproductive health and women’s empowerment are intertwined and that both are necessary for the advancement of our society.”
To succeed, Minister Mombeshora said there was need for a multi-sectorial approach, putting all hands on deck as there has been some challenges like the natural disasters like Cyclone Idai, Covid-19, currently cholera outbreak and El Nino induced drought.
“We therefore need to seriously work on strengthening our emergency preparedness and response.” The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zimbabwe representative Miranda Tabifor said more investment in Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) should take centre stage in the national and global development efforts.
Tabifor also reiterated that ICPD recognizes that reproductive health and women’s empowerment are intertwined and both are necessary for the advancement of society.
Meanwhile the 2024 State of the World Population Report was also launched on during the meeting as the government pledged its commitment to end inequalities in accessing SRHR services and information to ensure no one is left behind.
