A local financial institution, Stanbic Bank of Zimbabwe has partnered Plan International to construct a US$100 000 worthy maternal waiting home at Nyamuzuwe Rural Hospital in Mutoko.
Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony, Stanbic Bank Head of Marketing and Communications, Palmer Mugavha said the high mortality rates worried and pushed them construct a waiting home at Nyamuzuwe hospital.
“Today we are at Nyamuzuwe Rural Hospital were we had the ground breaking ceremony for the waiting mother’s home, this home shall house 24 expectant mothers at a time and the objective is to try and reduce the mortality rate which is quiet high for mothers and new born children,
“As Stanbic we partnered with Plan International who are our coordinating partner, they helped us find this need, we have corporate social responsibility program within the bank to assist fellow countrymen around the country , so we saw a very great need at Nyamuzuwe Rural Hospital,
“The construction shall commence in two weeks, we have bricks and cement that were gathered by the community over and above what we are putting in as a bank, we have put in a figure of $100, 000 towards the construction of the waiting mother’s home, that will include all the furnishings, electrical and plumbing. Construction should be completed in October this year,” explained Mugavha.
Expectant mothers in Nyamuzuwe faced challenges of travelling 20-25km from where they lived and looking for accommodation within the community.
With the waiting home in the community they will be housed four weeks before giving birth with medical support.
Addressing guests at the the same event, Deputy Director of Reproductive Health in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Margaret Nyandoro stated that Zimbabwe is one of the countries with high maternal deaths.
“These homes used to called shelters but now they are called waiting homes to make the mothers feel at home, we need these waiting mother’s home because in this country we are one of the countries which has got high maternal and neo-natal maternal deaths,
“We measure the using ratios, at the moment 651 women die out of 100 000 live deaths, the magnitude of the problem is not seen because these deaths happen at different locations in the country, women who give birth to live babies 29 out of 1000 die, a third of them die within the first three day of life, that’s why we are encouraging our district hospitals to keep women for at least 72 hours,
“Three of the major causes of death in women are knowledge, access and quality of care, not every pregnancy has a complication but 15% of those who are pregnant have a complication, as Ministry of Health we are grateful for the work you have done here,” said Nyandoro.
According to statistics from Nyamuzuwe Hospital, 22% of the women give birth from home, therefore the construction of the waiting home will go a long way in lessening the burden for expectant mothers.
