Kate Phiri, Nkhata Bay’s Safe Motherhood Coordinator, was recently invited to present to the Health and Environment Committee, who were keen to know how they could take action to improve maternal and newborn survival in the district.The meeting looked at all the maternal deaths in the district, including the causes of death and how similar deaths could be prevented in future.The top headline was that one in every three maternal deaths are due to shortage of transport which can take them to the care that they need in a timely way.The Safe Motherhood Coordinator reported that the district had 5,812 deliveries between July 2015 and June 2016 and that 13 mothers died due to lack of transportation.The district has only one reliable ambulance which caters for 11 health facilities and one boat for patient referral on Lake Malawi.Adding his voice on the lack of adequate ambulances in the district, NKhata Bay District Health Officer, Dr. Albert Mkandawire said most of the district ambulances have been grounded due to lack of adequate funding to the district health office. Dr. Mkandawire further stated that the district fails to reach out to other areas due to the rough terrains such as the lake and mountains as the use of ambulance boats to reach these areas are expensive to run. The district implementation team resolved to approach profit-making stakeholders and encourage them to extend their corporate social responsibility and support the health sector with transport.
Nkhata Bay District Implementation Team (DIT) resolves to approach profit-making stakeholders in the district and encourage them to extend their corporate social responsibility and support the health sector with transport. The top headline was that one in every three maternal deaths are due to shortage of transport which can take them to the care that they need in a timely way.