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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Senior Reporter

The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the already existing shortage of midwives in Zimbabwe and left millions of Zimbabweans exposed to higher health risks for mothers, newborns and adolescents.

As Zimbabwe joins the world in commemorating the International Day for Midwives today, a call has been made for Government to invest in training and capacitating midwives to achieve universal access to health for all.

This year’s commemorations are running under the theme, “Follow the data: Invest in midwives”.

Zimbabwe Confederation of Midwives (Zicom) president Mr Emmanuel Mahlangu said Zimbabwe had lost some health professionals, including midwives to developed countries over the past year, a situation that has further exposed the already struggling health delivery system.

“Covid-19 opened up the developed world to absorb health workers from developing countries like Zimbabwe and there has been a mass movement of professionals in the health service to those countries,” said Mr Mahlangu.

“It is a pity when a midwife from Zimbabwe who has trained for seven years is lost to another country where he or she might not even practice midwifery but will become a general nurse.

Government needs to invest to retain the available human resources because it will take us a long time to recover from the loss of these qualified midwives.”

Globally, there is a shortage of 900 000 midwives. Experts say the available midwives face substantial barriers that prevent them from achieving their full potential.

According to the International Confederation of Midwives, investing in midwives could save up to 4,3 million lives every year by averting 67 percent of maternal deaths, 64 percent of neonatal deaths and 65 percent of stillbirths. Mr Mahlangu said the number of midwives in Zimbabwe is not enough to cover all health institutions, resulting in many women preferring to deliver at larger hospitals as opposed to local clinics.

“As it is, we have nurses who are taking on the roles of the midwife so if we have adequate midwives at all stations, it can reduce the pressure on these nurses.

“If midwives are properly positioned at all hospitals, clinics and village health facilities around the country, every single institution should be able to offer quality care and no woman will lose their lives, child or even suffer a still birth because they will get the same care at any institution,” said Mr Mahlangu.