‘Community midwives key in safe motherhood’

Community midwives are fundamental in the promotion of maternal health and safe motherhood, the Presidential Initiative on Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood (PIMHSM) has said.

PIMHSM coordinator Dr Dorothy Ngoma made the remarks in Blantyre on Friday on the sidelines of the graduation of 53 community midwives.

The 53 will join 25 other community midwives who have just completed their 18-month Certificate in Midwifery training with sponsorship from the presidential programme.

Ngoma said expressed optimism that the graduates will greatly contribute towards further reduction of maternal mortality rates and improve the delivery of maternal services in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

“Currently, the maternal mortality rates stand at 400 against 100 000 live births. Government expects that there will be a further reduction of these rates once these graduates resume their work in areas where they come from,” she said.

Ngoma disclosed that President Joyce Banda has secured more scholarships to enable 400 school leavers undergo training in midwifery.

“The desire of the President is that by 2020, we should train 5 000 community midwives to completely seal the gaps that exist in the provision of maternal and neonatal services,” she said.