Malawi one of the riskiest countries to be born—report

Malawi is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be born due to its ‘unusually high’ rate of premature births, according to a Save the Children 14th Annual State of World’s Mothers report released last Tuesday.

The report, which highlights challenges facing mothers and newborns worldwide, says 18 percent of babies in Malawi are born too early, the highest prevalence in the world.

The report has called on government to focus on childbirth and the first 28 days of birth to sustain the progress made in the area of safe motherhood.

“Malawi is on track to meet MDG [Millenium Development Goal] 4, but as newborn deaths become a growing percentage of under-five deaths, sustaining progress towards the MDG will require increased focus on childbirth and the first 28 days,” reads the report.

In an interview this week, Safe Motherhood coordinator in the Office of the President and Cabinet Dorothy Ngoma conceded that Malawi has high premature births.

But she said government is working hard through the Reproductive Health Unit and the Safe Motherhood Programme’s community mobilisation initiative to improve the situation.

“Premature births are caused by many factors such as infections, maternal under-nutrition and early pregnancies, which are preventable. Eighteen percent is way too high and certainly not acceptable. So, we want to trim it down by 2015, the deadline for the MDGs. We should be aiming at zero,” said Ngoma.

She said premature births are common among girls who fall pregnant before their bodies have fully matured.

According to Ngoma, for the battle to be won, every citizen has to take part in ensuring that early pregnancies are reduced and that every pregnant woman accesses skilled health care.

The report notes that insufficient health care for mothers in sub-Saharan Africa has also been a factor in the poor status of mothers and newborns.

“On average, only half the women in the [sub-Saharan] region receive skilled care during birth,” reads the report.

However, the 2013 Mothers Index, an annual ranking of mothers’ well-being in 176 countries around the globe, which is featured in the report, ranks Malawi at 144, better than Zimbabwe which is at 147, Zambia at 159 and Kenya at 156.

At the bottom of the rank, as the worst place to be born, is the Democratic Republic of Congo (176), followed by Somalia.

Finland tops the rating of the best places to be born, followed by Sweden.

On a positive note, the report describes Malawi as a rare African success story, having reduced newborn mortality by 44 percent since 1990.

“With consistent, high-level political commitment and help from international organisations, Malawi has taken a comprehensive national health sector approach to saving newborn lives. For example, Malawi is championing the use of breastfeeding at birth and skin-to-skin care for warmth as effective practices every mother can and should undertake after the birth of her child,” notes the report.

It mentions the elimination of maternal and newborn tetanus, better training of nurses and midwives, scaling up of training for health surveillance assistants and encouraging women to give birth at health facilities as highlights of Malawi’s success story.

During her meeting with the Global Leaders Council (GLC) in January this year, where Malawi was rated a star in safe motherhood initiatives, President Joyce Banda said the country’s high fertility rate and increasing population remain a challenge to the country’s success in maternal health and family planning.

“Malawi needs to move maternal health and family planning successes to scale. The increasing population and the considerably high fertility rate remain a development challenge…We must do more to make family planning a critical pillar of our maternal health programmes,” said Banda.

The GLC noted that although Malawi’s birth rate and maternal mortality rate are still high, the country is among nations that have made progress in reproductive and maternal health globally.