The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s child mortality rate has declined from 75 to 69 deaths per 1 000 live births between 2014 and 2015, a survey has revealed.According to a recently published Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) 2015, the number of deaths of children under five decreased by 8 percent between 2014 and 2015. Infant mortality rate has also decreased from 57 deaths per 1000 between 2010 and 2011 to 50 deaths per 1000 in 2015.
Infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of infants under the age of one year per 1 000 live births, while child mortality refers to the number of deaths of children under the age of five years per 1 000 live births.
“The level of under-five mortality is 69 deaths per 1 000 live births during the five-year period before the survey, implying that at least one in every 15 children born in Zimbabwe during this period died before reaching their fifth birthday,” part of the report read.
“The infant mortality rate is 50 deaths per 1 000 live births.”
Stakeholders attributed the decline to several critical interventions made by various players in the health delivery system. Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa, attributed the decline to programmes such as Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT).
“The biggest contributor is that there is a rise in mothers who are visiting hospitals or health institutions during pregnancy and this has helped to administer PMTCT early,” he said.
“This means infants and children are less likely to die.
“Though there are other contributors, PMTCT is the main contributor and thus infant and child mortality has declined.”
Since 2011, PMTCT has enrolled more than 280 000 HIV positive women and over 234 000 HIV exposed infants into the national PMTCT programme.
Zimbabwe introduced option B+ in 2013. This has seen huge strides being made in reducing the number of babies infected with HIV/AIDS. According to the United Nations, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia have the highest deaths of child and infant mortality rates, with 100 deaths per 1 000.
High cost of obtaining treatment and restricted access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation were cited as major obstacles to reducing child and infant mortality rates.
Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), countries seek to reduce deaths of newborns and children under five years of age to 12 per 1 000 live births and 25 per 1 000 live births by 2030, respectively.
