Zambia: Call for improved women's healthcare as maternal deaths rise

A leading women's advocacy group in Zambia has appealed to health authorities to spend more funds on improving maternal care. An increasing number of women have died during childbirth in recent years. The latest figures from the 2001/02 Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) indicated 729 deaths per 100,000 live births, significantly higher than in neighbouring countries. Lumba Siyanga, the acting executive director of the women's advocacy NGO, Women For Change, said pregnant rural women were made increasingly vulnerable due to the lack of access to reproductive healthcare and the low quality of treatment.