By Emily Correale | Associate Manager, Development
We are proud to report on the most recent numbers under our Stand Up for African Mothers campaign! Currently, we have 3,719 students enrolled in our midwifery training programs across Africa, and 3,233 graduated, bringing the latest number to 6,952! That breaks down to 334 in Mozambique, 309 in South Sudan, 399 in Tanzania, 338 in Uganda, 3,401 in Ethiopia, 593 in Senegal and 1,578 in Kenya. Below, you will find an article recently published in the Gurtong, about how Amref Health Africa about 75 percent of the healthworkers in South Sudan, Maridi county, in an effort to reduce maternal mortality.
By Jok P Mayom
JUBA, 05 May 2015 [Gurtong] - In a statement released on May 5 2015 the International Day of the midwife the organisation said its priorities are on training and development of midwives in the African Continent.
“In South Sudan Amref Health Africa through Maridi Health Science Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other partners has trained about 75 percent of midlevel health professionals” reads the statement. The statement furthers reads that about 30 percent of them Midwives.
Amref Health Africa says South Sudan has the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world arguing that through training of midwives they conduct, safe deliveries can be reversed.
Amref Health Africa calls for greater focus on this important health worker cadre to reduce maternal deaths on the continent.
“Although global progress continues to be made towards the fifth Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 progress in Africa remains slow and insufficient” the statement reads.
In light of this, Amref Health Africa through its Stand Up for African Mothers campaign has prioritized training of midwives as one of the key strategies to reduce deaths of mothers and their newborns in the countries with the highest maternal deaths in Africa.
The statement reveals that unfortunately Africa has a shortage of midwives, both in numbers and competencies.
The majority of midwives serving on the continent has only received basic training and require upgrading or further training in order to meet global standards for midwifery.
Meanwhile, according to the World Bank, although maternal mortality has declined worldwide, the share of maternal deaths is increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
The latest joint World Bank statistics indicate in 2013, 62 per cent of maternal deaths worldwide (178,000 out of 262,000) occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 42 per cent in 1990.
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