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Every Woman - Issue 1/2012
Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN)
May 09, 2012

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Ridza Mhere/Hlabu'umkhosi for improved maternal health services: ZWRCN launches campaign

The Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre & Network (ZWRCN) in partnership with a coalition of 12 local organizations working in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and active in the field of gender equality on Saturday, 21 April 2012 - launched a campaign on accelerating maternal health service provision for women in rural areas in Zimbabwe. The campaign - dubbed the Ridza Mhere/Hlab'umkhosi Campaign for Improved Maternal Health Services in Rural Areas - was initially launched in Mashonaland East at Munyawiri School in Domboshava, and is set to be rolled-out to other provinces in due course. The campaign is made possible with support from UN Women, the European Commission and Amanitare.

Over 5000 men, women and children from Goromonzi and surrounding areas attended the event and participated in a march intended to mobilize women, their partners, families, communities and community leaders to advocate for improved maternal health services. Pregnant women - accompanied by a marching band - wielded placards with various messages calling upon authorities to take action in preventing needless deaths of women giving birth. Traditional leaders, Government representatives, policy makers, funding partners and other key stakeholders were also present and delivered solidarity messages.

The Ridza Mhere/Hlab'umkhosi campaign comes in the wake of and seeks to complement efforts of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MOHCW)'s Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA) launched in June 2010. It also seeks improved accessibility of basic and comprehensive maternal health services at rural clinic and district level respectively by 2014 expected to markedly reduce maternal mortality by half by 2015. This will be accomplished through mobilization of a critical mass of persons advocating for improved maternal health services and increased budget allocation and spending in line with the Abuja Declaration.

In her speech, ZWRCN Executive Director, Naome Chimbetete highlighted that the focus of the Ridza Mhere/Hlab'umkhosi Campaign for Improved Maternal Health Services in Rural Areas was to get women speaking out and strengthen extensive advocacy in raising awareness on the issue of high maternal mortality in Zimbabwe to influence the immediate and full commitment of the government in addressing this challenge. She bemoaned that rural women were dying needlessly from preventable conditions like hemorrhaging and high blood pressure; thereby contributing to increased maternal mortality rate.

UN Women Country Representative, Hodan Addou said that the rise in maternal mortality rate from 725 deaths per 100,000 live births to 960 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2007 and 2010 was alarming and unjustifiable. She emphasized the need for coordinated efforts from all actors for a unified response to the emergency of maternal mortality and called upon government, the donor community, civil society organizations and the private sector to come together in saving Zimbabwe's women.

In Zimbabwe, sexual and reproductive health services are declining with the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) rising to 960 deaths per 100 000 live births according to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey 2010 - 2011. Limited access to comprehensive and basic maternal health services at district and rural clinic levels respectively - is a major contributor to the increase in Zimbabwe's maternal mortality rate. Adequate and timeous allocation of and transparency in spending of resources directed at maternal health could significantly reverse this situation such that the costs of failure to do so - in terms of lives and finances - are not passed on to women.

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