The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is launching a free healthcare programme for pregnant women and newborns.
The move aims to combat the nation’s high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality, The Guardian reports.
This initiative covers services during pregnancy and a month post-childbirth, with newborns receiving free healthcare for their first 28 days.
Initially, 13 out of 26 regions are included, with plans to expand nationwide.
However, healthcare workers are expressing concerns about the system's capacity to handle the surge in demand.
The programme, supported by a $113 million investment from the World Bank, needs more staff and better facilities and equipment in hospitals and medical centres, they say.
However, health Minister Roger Kamba Mulamba hailed the initiative as liberating women from a ‘prison sentence’, emphasising improved access to essential healthcare services.
General examinations can cost significant amounts, with many people living on less than $2.15 a day. The programme therefore promises vital financial relief for expecting mothers.
However, challenges persist. Health centres like the Kinkole General Hospital report being overwhelmed by the increased demand for care, putting significant strain on resources as patient numbers have doubled since the programme’s introduction.
Criticism also arises regarding inadequate consultation with healthcare workers and community liaison personnel before implementing the scheme.
Community workers are pivotal in building trust and disseminating information about such initiatives, which could affect the programme’s success.
The programme, launched in the capital Kinshasa and now expanding across regions, seeks to alleviate the burden on expectant mothers in a nation struggling with healthcare accessibility.
But the road to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality remains fraught with challenges of infrastructure, resource allocation, and community engagement, signalling a complex journey ahead for DRC’s healthcare system.
According to FIGO (The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics), the DRC is one of the eight countries that contribute more than 50% of the global burden of maternal deaths.
The ratio of maternal deaths in the DRC, is 693 per 100,000 live births – and the lifetime risk of maternal death for a woman is 1 in 24.
The 2021 Maternal, Perinatal Death and Response Surveillance Bulletin in DRC reveals after analysis that 68% of maternal deaths were due to PPH, 11% to infections and 10% to eclampsia during the period covered.
In an interview on the FIGO website, Dr Gertrude Musamba Mutombo, project manager for the AMPLI-PPHI (Accelerating Measurable Progress and Leveraging Investments for Postpartum Haemorrhage Impact) initiative at the Société Congolaise de Gynécologie et d'Obstétrique (SCOGO), shared her professional experience in the fight against post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) in the DRC.
Emphasising the importance of working at all levels of the health system to reduce maternal mortality, she said: ‘Given that the number of obstetrician-gynaecologists is still limited in the DRC, the majority are concentrated in large cities, and the number of midwives remains low, it is essential to strengthen the skills and competencies of other providers health professionals, such as nurses, in emergency obstetric and neonatal care (EMONC) in order to enable them to offer quality services and care throughout the country based on standardised care protocols.’
She said barriers to quality emergency obstetric care included:
Insufficient number of trained providers (obstetricians, general practitioners, midwives, nurses) in emergency obstetric and neonatal care
Low availability of recommended medicines in health care centres due to inadequate storage conditions (oxytocin) or unavailability in the country
Geographical inaccessibility of hospitals, with a poorly organised ambulance system leading to delays in transporting women and management of complications
Lack of essential resources, such as blood for transfusions
Financial inaccessibility of care for low-income households.
She concluded that the AMPLI-PPHI project will generate conclusive data and evidence that will guide the Ministry of Public Health in scaling up additional medications to prevent and treat postpartum haemorrhage and fight against this main cause of maternal mortality in the DRC.
