“Maternal and Child Health Road Map 2014 for Saving Lives hopes to save 313 mothers and 20 000 babies lives annually at the cost of R250 million per annum”
The provincial government, civil society and non-governmental organisations and communities pledge to do things differently to battle needless deaths among poor mothers and their children, and MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo speaks about what government can do to help meet the ambitious development goals, MDG 4 and 5.
“The government promised to do more and better. This promise must mean that things must be done differently for every woman and every child” says MEC for Health, at the launch of the maternal and child health road map 2014 for saving lives where government, along with the prominent leaders, donor foundations (MAtCH) and civil society, is kicking off a concerted effort to save the lives of more than 300 pregnant women and 19 000 children. At the event to launch the maternal and child health road map 2014 for saving lives, stakeholders pledged to spare no effort and resource for women’s and children’s health.
“We know what works to save women’s and children’s lives, and we know that women and children are critical to all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” said MEC for Health in KwaZulu-Natal Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo. “Today we are witnessing the kind of leadership we have long needed.”
Investing in the health of women and children is not only the right thing to do; it also builds healthy and sustainable communities. It reduces poverty; stimulates economic growth; it’s cost-effective, and it helps women and children realise their fundamental human rights.
Maternal and child health road map 2014 for saving lives
The maternal and child health road map 2014 for saving lives, led by the Department of Health, provides the framework for developing capacities at sub-provincial levels to design, implement and monitor strategies for health and nutrition services that will ensure the achievement of results for mothers and children. The strengthening of the primary health care approach, which the department has been pursuing, becomes even more critical in this effort.
“Government congratulates the MEC for this remarkable effort, both for the breadth of partners he has convened - including the first lady and queen, multilateral organisations and civil society organisations - and for the substantial commitments made in response to his call for action,” said Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize. “We welcome the maternal and child health road map 2014 for saving lives, which highlights the importance of investing in women and girls to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. We look forward to working with the MEC and the important partners he has brought together to address maternal and child health - an issue that is at the top of our development agenda.”
With 2014 only four years down the road, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health and its health partners are exploring strategies that will help in accelerating the achievement of planned results and meet the health related MDGs. There is a need to be creative and innovative in ensuring the availability of the services and the utilisation of such, particularly by the most vulnerable population - children under-five, pregnant and lactating women, and those living in hard-to-reach areas.
Multilateral organisations join forces
To help ensure the road map is successful, several organisations including Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other donor partners such as MATCH are collaborating to mobilise ongoing operational support, including increasing access to basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care for all pregnant women and children, ensure functioning referral systems with specialised emergency response vehicles, community based maternal, neonatal and child health, accountability for provider’s performance and mentorship. This team will identify and connect resources to the people who need them based on the priorities set by health plans.
“The road map 2014 asks us to be smart, strategic, and resourceful as never before,” said Dr Arthi Ramkissoon, Director for MAtCH. “By integrating their actions, the health-related agencies will strengthen capacities across the board, in ways that meet the comprehensive needs of women and children.”
Major returns
The gains from implementing the road map 2014 will be enormous.
- Between 2011 and 2014, the deaths of more than 20 000 children under five would be prevented, as well as thousands of unwanted pregnancies and the deaths of 300 women from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth
- Prevention of unwanted pregnancies will go a long way in reduction of maternal mortality.
Putting women at the centre
Queen Thandi Zulu, a former nurse and champion for the road map 2014, adds; “We now have an opportunity to achieve real, lasting progress because our leaders increasingly recognise that the health of women and children is the key to progress on all development goals.”
Road map 2014 launches priority interventions for reducing maternal and child mortality
Maternal health
- Increase access to safe delivery through establishment of basic emergency obstetric care (BEOC) in key strategic area
- Improve the referral and transport by introducing dedicated or specialised ambulances for maternity and paediatric care
- Scaling up Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy (HAART) access for pregnant women
- Improving staff competency and skills and improving quality of clinical care through the introduction of mentorship teams
- Establishing waiting mothers in fairly rural hospitals.
Neonatal health
- Establish a neonatal experiential learning site and outreach programme in each Area to develop, support and capacitate neonatal services in all hospitals in each Service Area
- Ensure that there is a functional neonatal resuscitation unit in each labour ward and nursery across the province
- Ensure functional high care beds in each nursery in the province in the following ratios
- one per district hospital
- two per regional hospital
Child health
- Implement community based Maternal, and Child Health Framework
- Integrate flagship activities into Primary Health Care
- Back to the basics of GOBI (strategies that are being adopted to improve maternal and child health as part of primary care. respectively they include, growth monitoring, oral rehydration therapy, breast-feeding, immunisation, family spacing (planning), female education and food supplementation)
Today's launch of the maternal and child health road map 2014 in Durban is a moment for celebration for us all. The strategy represents the best of collective knowledge about how to save the lives of women and children. It also assigns responsibility to all - including government departments (through the flagship programme), donors, private health sector, the United Nations (UN) agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), health professionals and academics - to step up efforts for women and children, and to hold each other accountable in doing so. More than anything, today's announcement of more than R250 million in commitments to the road map reminds us how much progress we can make when we put our shoulder to the wheel. The launch is not the destination, but the start of journey and partners are picking up speed.
Chris Maxon
Cell: 083 447 2869
E-mail: chris.maxon@kznhealth.gov.za
