Home deliveries contribute to Zanzibar mother, child deaths

Stonetown, 26 Feb-(ANA)- More than half Zanzibar's mothers deliver their children at home without access to medical help at health facilities, an official said.

"Fewer than 50 percent of the pregnant women in Zanzibar give birth in health facilities; the rest give birth at home with assistance from traditional birth attendants," said Hanuni Waziri, manager of the maternal and child health programme in the Zanzibar Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

Maternal mortality was estimated at 377 per 100,000 live births, Waziri said at the launch of a roadmap to accelerate the reduction of maternal, newborn, and child deaths in Stone Town on 25 February.

According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), about half a million women die every year in childbirth worldwide. In Tanzania, approximately 8,000 women die every year due to pregnancy and childbirth and 57 percent deliver at home. (ANA)

FA/ANA/26 February 2009---