Chilufya applauds reduced maternal mortality

MATERNAL mortality rate has reduced from 298 per 100, 000 births to 278 per 100, 000 births, Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya has announced.

Dr Chilufya said under-five mortality had also reduced from 75 per thousand birth to 61 per 1000 births respectively.

He said the overall child mortality rate had reduced from 31 to 19 per 1000 births.

According to the latest Zambia Demographic and Health Survey Key in Indicator report released in Lusaka, yesterday, the reduction in the rates was as a result of early access to health care services.

Dr Chilufya said the key indicators showed significate progress in the country’s quest to attain universal health coverage. Dr Chilufya said this during the 2018 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey whose theme was “Participate for Better Health for All, Leaving no one behind,” in Lusaka yesterday.

He said the demographic and health survey information was critical as it reviewed the performance of the health sector and how the country could plan for the future.

“Our ability to generate such important data on the health status of our citizens, means that the effectiveness of interventions, and the actions of both state, and non-state actors are strongly backed by evidence”

“Having up to date data is likely to lead to better programming and targeted allocation of resources in our country,” he said.

Dr Chilufya said it was for this reason that President Mr Edgar Lungu had invested in attaining Universal Health Coverage by way of health systems strengthening through strategies informed by the highest level of evidence.

And Minister of National Development Planning, Alexander Chiteme explained that the 2018 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey covered about 13,500 rural and urban household with 27,440 individuals from whom civil society organisations elicited demographic and health data.

Mr Chiteme said the Zambia Demographic and health survey were of great importance to the country as they constituted key sources of data required for monitoring and evaluation of developmental frameworks.

“I am therefore delighted that as a country we now have latest data covering, fertility and family planning, marriage, maternal and women’s health, child health, nutrition indicators, malaria, HIV/AIDS including prevalence, comprehensive knowledge about transmission and symptoms, stigma,” said Chiteme.