Malawi safe motherhood presidential initiatve chalks success -Chief Kwataine
Chairperson for the Presidential Initiative on Safe Motherhood Senior Chief Kwataine says the involvement of traditional leaders on safe motherhood initiative was bearing good fruits in most rural areas.
Kwataine said this during the meeting between President Joyce Banda and traditional leaders held at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre.
Kwataine said the involvement of traditional leaders in the project was reaping success as their subjects have embraced the call to ensuring that no mother loses a life while giving one.
He said with that initiative it was becoming safer for women in the country to give birth.
“I’m proud to report that the initiative has so far built 17 maternity waiting shelters throughout the country and there are more to be built.
“The working relationship between traditional leaders and the medical people regarding pregnant mothers has improved and as a good example in my area, we have a good story to tell,” explained Kwataine.
One of the women working with chiefs on the initiative in Ntcheu Catherine Kalungama said they have a group that keeps records of women that are pregnant and ensure that they get medical attention during delivery.
“We are secret women ‘azimayi a chinsisi’ and we go round the village encouraging those who are pregnant to patronise ant-natal clinics and we compile records for our traditional leaders as well as ensuring that they get to the maternity waiting shelter in time.
“So, when it’s time to give birth, they are professionally assisted,” explained Kalungama.
The Presidential Initiative on Safe Motherhood was established in April, 2012 by President Joyce Banda to end maternal deaths as one way of improving women’s welfare in the country which corresponds with Millennium Development Goal (5) which Malawi needs to accomplish by 2015.
The meeting between the President and the traditional leaders centred on the progress of work in various government projects that involve traditional leaders such as the Farm Input Subsidy programme (FISP), a cow a family, school feeding programme, cash transfer, two crops a year, and also the safe motherhood initiative.
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