Maternity Waiting Home in honour of Muharukua to be opened in Opuwo
The Ministry of Health and Social Services in partnership with the European Union and the World Health Organization will officially open the Kazetjindire Angelika Muharukua Maternity Waiting Home (MWH) in Opuwo on 20 February.
In a statement representatives of the Programme for Accelerating the Reduction of Maternal and Child Mortality (PARMaCM) said their orgganisation supported the government in funding the construction of the Opuwo MWH.
According to the representatives the total funding of the PARMaCM Programme amounted to approximately N$155 million and part of this money was for procurement and distribution of medical equipment, N$8.5 million for the construction of maternity waiting homes and N$14.6 million for the purchasing of nine ambulances and six utility vehicles.
PARMaCM said that the project has resulted in an improvement in the access and quality of care provided to women and children in the hospitals, health centres and clinics in all regions in the country.
“Communities have been educated and mobilized through the health extension programme to adopt a healthier lifestyle and practices,” they added.
PARMaCM decided to build the home in Opuwo because the Kunene region has the lowest proportion of pregnant women delivering in health facilities according to the Demographic and Health Survey of 2013.
Furthermore the region is presented with unique and compounding challenges that make access to health care impossible for some rural communities.
These challenges include extreme levels of poverty, long distances to health care facilities and low health seeking behavior, which has resulted in low performance in maternal and child health indicators. Moreover Opuwo has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and the lowest deliveries at facilities.
