The number of women dying from pregnancy complications has kept rising in Africa, from 870 per 100 000 expectant women in 1990 to 1 000 in 2001, international consultant on reproductive health Joseph Kasonde said on Monday.
”The maternal mortality rate in Africa is the highest in the world,” he told a United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) regional conference on maternal and new-born health in Harare.
”The risk to a woman of dying in pregnancy or labour in Africa remains unacceptably high,” he said.
In Zimbabwe the number of women dying from pregnancy-related complications has nearly trebled over the past decade from 253 to more than 700 per 100 000 pregnant women, according to health and child welfare ministry secretary Elizabeth Xaba.
Most of the deaths have been due to poverty, HIV/Aids, shortages of qualified health personnel, poor health facilities, delays in reaching health facilities because of shortage of transport and lack of medical resources, she said.
Illiteracy and lack of knowledge on pre-natal care, are some of the reasons for the rise in deaths, the experts said.
Many African countries have been hit by an exodus of medical personnel to overseas destinations in recent years.
”Only 42% of births in the African region are attended by skilled personnel,” said Kasonde.
Unsafe abortions are high among adolescents, according to Kasonde.
The experts, who are drawn from various international organisations, are examining the extent of the problem on the continent and will suggest ways of reducing the death rates among mothers and infants.
African governments’ health budgets were also identified as inadequate to deal with obstetric cases.
”The percentage of GDP (gross domestic product) devoted to health in sub-Saharan Africa remains at between one percent and 3,7% compared to the large percentage spent on arms,” said Kasonde. – Sapa-AFP