In Zambia, Saving Mothers, Giving Life is putting in place key interventions to improve maternal and newborn health across 16 districts. Working hand-in-hand with the Zambian government, the initiative has set out to make high-quality, safe childbirth services available and accessible to women and their newborns, focusing on the critical period of labor, delivery and the first 48 hours postpartum.
The Situation
Every year, there are an estimated 608,000 births, 1,400 maternal deaths and 13,000 newborn deaths in Zambia. While Zambia has had modest improvements in maternal health since 1990, a woman's lifetime risk of maternal death — the probability that a 15-year-old girl will eventually die from a maternal cause — is 1 in 79, dozens of times greater than that of a high-income country like Norway or the United States.
Our Target Districts
PHASE 1
1
Kalomo
2
Zimba
3
Mansa
4
Chembe
5
Nyimba
6
Lundazi
PHASE 2
7
Samfya
8
Lunga
9
Kabwe
10
Choma
11
Pemba
12
Chipata
13
Petauke
14
Sinda
15
Vubwi
16
Mambwe
Our Approach
Our Results3
Key results include:
Indicator |
Zambia |
|
Baseline |
Endline |
% Change |
Institutional maternal mortality ratio |
311 |
144 |
↓ 53% |
Community-level maternal mortality ratio |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
Institutional delivery rate |
63% |
90% |
↑ 43% |
Direct obstetric case fatality rate |
3.1% |
1.7% |
↓ 46% |
Cesarean section rate |
2.7% |
3.6% |
↑ 32% |
Perinatal mortality rate |
37.9 |
27.0 |
↓ 29% |
Total stillbirth rate |
30.5 |
19.4 |
↓ 37% |
Institutional neonatal mortality rate |
7.7 |
7.8 |
↑ 2% |
Women who received ARVs for PMTCT |
930 |
1687 |
↑ 81% |