Zimpapers Logo

Sibongile Maruta Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe continues to make progress in improving maternal, child and general health throughout the country, the 2017 Inter-Censal Demographic Survey (ICDS) has revealed.

The survey results released on Tuesday in Harare by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) showed that the country’s maternal and child health, adolescent sexual reproductive health, family planning and general knowledge on HIV and Aids have greatly improved.

The results showed that there has been a mortality improvement after a widespread adoption of anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

The infant mortality of age one and below declined from 67 deaths per 1 000 children in 2002 to 64 deaths in 2012 and saw a further decline to 52 deaths in 2017.

Maternal mortality ratio, which had improved by 50 percent during the inter-census period 2002 up to 2012 stalled at 525 maternal deaths per 1000 live births.

Adolescent fertility remained high among young girls.

From the 2012 census thematic analysis and 2015 Zimbabwe demographic health survey, fertility has been declining in Zimbabwe to 1,8 births.

During the 30-year inter-census period 1982 up to 2012, fertility has remained high amongst adolescent women.

Speaking at the launch of the 2017 Zimbabwe Inter-Censal Demographic Survey yesterday, ZimStat director general Mr Godfrey Dzinotizei said the detailed data will assist in evidence-based policy formulation and administration.

In preparing the ICDS report, ZimStat seeks to put at the disposal of users detailed data which will assist in evidence based policy formulation and administration, research overall development planning as well as monitoring sustainable development goals, he said

UNFPA country director Dr Esther Muia said there is need to look at aspects that influence fertility such as education and economic empowerment.

Fertility, however, remained high at around four children per women, mainly due to high fertility among adolescent women.

This highlights the need to address increasing adolescent fertility. Government should look at policies to help slow down fertility rate, she said.

She said results from the ICDS confirm recent findings for family planning information and services for women beyond 35 years of age to empower them to plan their families.

The survey also showed most indicators on living conditions have improved since 2012.

For example, access to electricity increased from 40 percent in 2012 to 48 percent in 2017.

Ownership of housing units improved from 59 percent to 67 percent.

Urban area housing ownership increased from 30 percent to 37 percent in 2017.