The summit brings together the First Ladies of many African nations and hundreds of experts committed to promoting the UN Secretary General’s “Every Woman Every Child” campaign for definitive action to complement each nation's priorities and vision for a better future for women and children.
This is the second summit hosted by USDFA, with the first being in 2009.
Maria da Luz Guebuza will share with the summit the challenges facing Mozambique in the fight against maternal, child and neonatal mortality, and will detail the gains achieved.
In Mozambique the maternal mortality rate is still high, with over 400 women per 100,000 live births dying due to complications during delivery. However, this is a considerable improvement compared with the 1990s when the maternal mortality rate was 1,600 per 100,000 live births.
The high rate is largely influenced by poverty, illnesses such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, problems in labour, postpartum haemorrhage and the long distances that many women have to travel for medical care.
Other factors in the high mortality rate include malnutrition, a lack of antenatal education, taboos and other social and cultural aspects.
To reverse the situation the Mozambican government has been focussing on the construction of “waiting houses” for pregnant women in order to increase the number of institutional births in rural areas.
This allows pregnant women to travel before their labour starts, and have somewhere reasonably comfortable to wait before they go into labour. This should make it more attractive for women to give birth in health institutions than at home. Efforts have also gone into supporting community transport and traditional birth attendants.
To tackle neonatal and infant mortality, Mozambique has introduced over the last ten years at least two new vaccines. In addition, in April it will introduce the pneumococcal vaccine against pneumonia and meningitis.
Post published in: Africa News