Ms Amina Abdulkadir, the Chairperson of
‘Zanzibar Nurses Association (ZANA)’, said this at a press conference
yesterday to mark the beginning of a week-long observation of the IDM
held on every May 5 of each year.
She said that “More pregnant women are
coming to hospitals; we are almost overwhelmed with the big number. At
Mnazi Mmoja Hospital alone, we have 30 to 50 births daily! About 80 per
cent of the pregnant women are now going to hospitals.”
Ms Abdulkadir, a nurse and midwife by
profession, attributed the increasing number of women using hospitals to
increased awareness, improved healthcare in the islands and government
commitment including free services to pregnant women.
“We still have TBAs, fortunately most of
them have undergone training. They are doing their job better than
before, but we ask them to avoid handling complicated pregnancy cases,”
she said, adding that an effort to have skilled labour has also been
helpful in improving health services.
The ZANA chairperson said that the
recent verification exercise of health staff, “we managed to identify
some workers holding fake certificates and a single certificate being
used by more than one person. At least three people have been expelled.”
She said the demand for nurses and midwives remains high (with one
nurse against 50 patients ratio).
Mr Mussa Rashid Mussa, the Chief Nursing
Officer, said that due to concerted efforts in improving care to
expectant mothers, maternal mortality has declined from 473/100,000 in
2007 to 117/100,000 in 2016 - while child mortality is now at 15/1000
down from 31/1000 in 2008.
Mr Mussa said that ZANA and other
stakeholders have organised a series of events to mark the IDM to raise
awareness “evaluate our work and inform policy makers about the need to
increase support including funds to save pregnant women.”
At the press conference, Ms Valeria
Rashid Haroub, the Chairperson of Zanzibar Midwives Association, asked
the media to help encourage more expectant mothers to use hospitals,
where death risks are minimised.
Ms Haroub said they have been also
working hard to ensure that nurses and midwives never use harsh language
while attending to the mothers and they have asked people with any
evidence about unfriendly staff to come forward and report their
grievances
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